Thea suddenly found herself surrounded by the Master, well, multiple Masters she supposed, giving as how every human on planet Earth's was now him.
Not how she wanted this Christmas to go, she knew the man hadn't gone down peacefully and stayed dead after dying on the Valiant. Being a Time Lord she could remember the year-that-never-was and she didn't want to. She knew the man would somehow find a way to come back and he had. She didn't care how he had done it she just wanted him gone and her family back.
He was ruining Christmas!
And she was actually starting to enjoy the holiday.
They'd been in the living room altogether watching the queen's speech as she did every year when suddenly Luke and Sarah Jane both claimed to see a face, the bad feeling in her gut had told her to run but she stupidly ignored it until their heads had shook at a rapid speed and suddenly two Masters were standing before her, exactly like he had been as Harold Saxon, just wearing the clothes of Luke and Sarah Jane and with bleached blonde hair.
That was when she ran, slipping past all of the people in the street, all of the Masters as they came out of the homes after her.
She didn't know if he was after he because he sensed her as another Time Lord or just because she was the only person on the planet to not be him.
But there had been too many and where could she go? The entire human race was now the Master, she had nowhere to hide.
So, she had given in, allowing the Masters to take her where the real Master was and hoped to the stars that the Doctor was also here.
If the Master was toying with the Doctors favourite planet the man must be around. She knew of the stories of the pair of renegades, how their friendship had fallen apart and they fought each other across the universe.
~.~
The Doctor stared at Thea as she was escorted into the room in the Naismith mansion. He had been tightly fastened to a wheeled chair, straps across his body and over his head and mouth to keep him down. Poor Wilf, the old man accompanying him, had also been tied up, though just with ropes in a simple chair.
He hadn't known what to think when the other Masters had called that they'd found someone in Earling. Who else could it have been but Thea. She wouldn't have changed like the humans, so of course he would have sent his clones after her and bring her here.
He really hadn't meant for her to get involved, he hadn't spoken or seen her since Sarah Jane's wedding. He was waiting for her to speak first.
He could only watch as the Master forced her down into another chair, tying her hands to the side of the chair and her feet to its legs. She was dressed in a little denim pleated skirt with a white simple t-shirt tucked in, with an odd looking green alien design on it with red and green stripped fingerless gloves over her arms, fitting giving they were seen as Christmas colours, with matching thigh high striped socks under a pair of black knee high converse.
"Now then," the Master cheered, "I've got a planet to run. Is everybody ready?"
They could hear the different Masters responding over the screens, the Naismith Master in his lab, the President, Unit General in Geneva, the Commissioner in China, all of them. All of the ones with the power and armies to go to war.
Thea looked over at the Doctor seeing the guilt in his eyes. It wasn't like it was his fault she was here. He hadn't expected the Master to bring her, she had seen how wide his eyes had gone when the other Masters brought her in, though maybe he had been more in shock when she'd gone and widely kicked her legs at them all. She shook her head, assuring him that this wasn't his fault before nodding her head over to a helmeted guard standing nearby with a gun, a gun he wasn't likely to use.
"Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship." the Master chuckled with glee as he turned back to his prisoners, "Nothing to say, Doctor?" he walked over to the man, "What's that? Pardon? Sorry."
"You let him go, you swine." Wilf called.
"Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss."
"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was."
"Hush, now. Listen to your Master."
"Is that why you chose the name?" Thea interrupted, "'listen to your Master'", she mocked him even as the Doctor shook his head behind the man, "You're an egomaniac."
"And who exactly are you little red?" He asked, walking over to her.
"I'm Thea Smith or I'm Lady Thea of the House Jurisprudence" she smiled, "take you're pick who you want."
"Jurisprudence." the Master frowned. He recognised that name. One of the Great House of Gallifrey and for a member of that house to be on Earth...well, this girl might just be useful after all.
"You wish to request an audience with Lady Thea of House Jurisprudence?"
The Master grimaced at the use of her full title, "does she talk like that all the time?" he turned to the Doctor, "no wonder you don't want her travelling with you."
"I denied his request, actually." Thea corrected.
"Oh ho ho," the Master laughed, looking at the Doctor, "she turned you down, that's new, has that ever happened before?" The Master instantly sobered up as a mobile rang. He spun to the old man, "But that's a mobile."
"Yeah, it's mine." Wilf struggled against his restraints, "Let me turn it off."
"No, no, no, no, no." The Master strode over to the man, "I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?"
"It's nobody. I tell you, it's nothing. It's probably one of them ring-back calls."
The Master knelt before the man, searching through his pockets, pulling out a gun, "ooh, and look at this. Good man!" and tossed it aside as he pulled out the mans mobile, "Donna. Who's Donna?"
"She's no one." Wilf said instantly, "Just leave it."
The Master answered the call, "Gramps, don't hang up. You've got to help me. I ran out, but everyone was changing."
"Who is she?" the Master demanded, "Why didn't she change?"
"Gramps, I can't hear you."
"Well, it was this thing the Doctor did." Wilf shrugged, not really understanding what it was at all, just that her mind would burn if she remembered the man, "He did it to her. The Metacrisis."
"Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls. Ugh!" the Master grinned at the Doctor.
"Are you there?" Donna continued.
The Master moved over to the screen with the Naismith Master on, "Find her. Trace the call."
"Are you still there? Can you hear me?"
"Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad." the Master walked back over and held the phone up.
"Donna, get out of there!" Wilf shouted, "Just get out of there. I'm telling you, run!"
"She's on Wessex Lane, Chiswick." Naithsmith/Master reported, "Open the phone lines. Everyone on Wessex Lane. Red alert."
"What do I do?" Donna cried.
"Run, sweetheart, that's all." Wilf told her, "Run for you life!"
"There's more of them."
"Donna? What's happening? Are you still there?"
"They're everywhere."
"Look, I'm telling you to run, Donna. Just run, sweetheart. Just run."
"It's not just them." Donna breathed, "I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?"
"Donna, don't think about that. Donna, my love, don't!"
"And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!" Donna screamed, "What did I...?" the line went dead.
"Donna?" Wilf shouted, "What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna.! Donna! Donna!"
"She's not dead." Thea guessed, though by the wink the Doctor sent and the smile he had behind his bounds she knew the woman wouldn't be.
The Master stormed over to the Doctor, ripping off the strap over his mouth.
"That's better." the Doctor grinned, "Hello. But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defence mechanism?"
"Doctor? What happened?" Wilf asked.
"She's all right. She's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep."
"Tell me, where's your TARDIS?" The Master demanded.
"You could be so wonderful."
"Where is it?"
"You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour..." he looked at his old friend, "Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."
"Would it stop, then?" the Master whispered, "the noise in my head?"
"I can help."
"I don't know what I'd be without that noise."
"I wonder what I'd be, without you."
Thea hesitated to speak up, seeing the two of them talking. She could see it, the love and care they did hold for each other deep down. A centuries old friendship torn apart because of some drums in one's head. one wanting to just see the universe while the other wanted to own it. Two very different people but similar in so many ways.
"You really believe he'd just become a good man with silence in his mind?" She inquired, looking past the Master and to the Doctor.
"What does that mean?" Wilf questioned, "What noise?"
The Master sighed, "It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you'd call it childhood." he leaned against the desk, "More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism."
"What does that mean?"
"It's a gap in the fabric of reality." the Doctor explained, "You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts."
"Not always." Thea called.
Both Time Lords looked at her, "it didn't hurt you." the Doctor stared at her.
"No."
The Master scoffed, "is that your way of sounding big and tough. Little red can handle staring into the Time Vortex." he shook his head, "They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums. Listen to them. Listen!" he turned back to the Doctor.
"Then let's find it." the Doctor nodded, "You and me. Thea as well if you'd like. The three of us."
"You cant stand listening to your own thoughts can you?" Thea shook her head at him. Only an idiot would invite his ex best friend turned psychopathic enemy into his TARDIS as well as a complete stranger who looked innocent enough. Honestly, it was like he felt he could instantly trust her all because she lived and was adopted by his old companion.
"Except." the Master began, pushing off the desk, "Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good."
"What?" the Doctor frowned, "What is?"
"The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes!" he laughed...only for his skull to flash before them, forcing him to his knees, panting.
"You're dying." Thea eyed him.
"The Gate wasn't enough." the Doctor agreed, "You're still dying."
The Master pushing himself up again, "This body was born out of death. All it can do is die. But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said 'the end of time.'"
"I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."
"What prophecy?" Thea looked between them, "what's returning?"
"What if I'm part of it?" the Master grinned, "Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor. That's what your prophecy was. Me!" he slapped the Doctor on his cheeks, "Where's the TARDIS?"
"No. Just stop. Just think..."
"What about you?" he turned to Thea, "do you know where it is?"
"Did you see me near the TARDIS?" Thea countered.
He nodded, he had expected that answer from her. She barely knew either of them but he knew she was familiar with the Doctor, they had met before if she had turned down his offer to travel with him. When he had been Prime Minister she had come with that woman Sarah Jane Smith to interview him, oh she knew that human, an old companion of the Doctor's and somehow by chance this little Time Lady had found her way into that woman's life.
He hadn't thought much of her, especially with how quiet she had been. While Sarah Jane had been asking all of the questions about him she had been at the side line taking notes, the human woman seemed suspicious at first but the Archangel had done its job and like the rest of the stupid humans she had loved him.
The girl hadn't spoken about any concerns, even though he knew she saw through the Arkangel. He had wondered why but she was only a little girl, listening to a human woman who wouldn't believe her, even if she was very aware of aliens.
Thea being with an old companion of the Doctor didn't seem like a coincidence to him.
He wasn't sure if it was the universe playing a funny game or if the girl herself was up to something.
He turned to the guard, "kill her." the helmeted guard walked over to Thea, gun raised, "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or little red here is dead."
"Rude." Thea huffed, remarkably unconcerned to the gun pointed at her. Though, giving the fact the guard was slightly taller than the Master, did she really have anything to be concerned about?
"I'll kill her right now!"
"That's not fair! I'm innocent in whatever you two have going on. Kill the human! He came with the Doctor, therefore, surely he cares more about the old man than myself."
"But with you, I get to kill you over and over until you're out of regenerations."
"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid." the Doctor remarked.
"Take aim." the Master commanded as the guard aimed.
"You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"
He rolled his eyes, "Like what?"
"That guard is one inch too tall."
The Master turned to him as the guard hit him with his rifle.
He removed his helmet revealing a green spiky alien. "Oh my God, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life."
A female alien ran in, "Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast."
"What are Vinvocci doing on Earth?" Thea asked as the male alien began to free her of her bounds.
"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf cheered as the alien moved to untie him as well once Thea was free.
"That's cacti." the Doctor called.
"That's racist!" the male Vinvocci shouted.
"Come on!" the female Vinvocci yelled as her partner came over to help free the Doctor of his restrains, "We've got to get out."
"There's too many buckles and straps." the male Vinvocci shook his head.
"Well wheel him out until we're somewhere safe." Thea reasoned, "have you got a ship nearby?" they nodded, "get us there."
"Who do you think you are?" the female alien demanded.
It was bad enough that that Doctor man removed their shimmer like it was nothing and now this girl had suddenly come along as well and was bossing her about. She didn't take just anyone on her ship. Whatever was happening on this planet was no concern to them.
"Thea Smith. Now let's go before he wakes up." She glanced down at the Masters unconscious body and kicked him, "that's for threatening to shoot me."
"No, no, no." the Doctor cried, "Get me out. No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no."
They ignored him, the male Vinvocci moving behind his chair and wheeling out of the room as his partner led the way, "Which way?"
"This way."
"No, no, no, no, no. The other way. I've got my TARDIS."
"Which is locked out of sync." Thea argued. That much was obvious, the Doctor would have taken measures to ensure the Master didn't find it and use it again, like he did turning the TARDIS into a paradox machine.
"I know what I'm doing." the female Vinvocci huffed.
"No, no, no, just...just listen to me!"
"Oh, will you shut up!" Thea snapped.
"Not the stairs." the Doctor winced as he was pushed down the stairs leading to the basement, the chair bumping with each step, making him grunt, "Not the stairs! Worst rescue ever!"
"Oh, do you ever stop complaining!" Thea rolled her eyes, "I have never met anyone as stubborn or arrogant as you."
"You've clearly never met yourself then."
She let out a noise of insult, "how dare you! Don't you know how rude it is to insult someone with getting to know them?"
"Isn't that what you're doing?" He shot back.
Thea glared back at him, face reddening, but she didn't have an answer to that.
They reached a small room that the Vinvocci had turned into the lab only to run into the Master and his clones, surrounded by them.
"Gotcha." the Master smirked.
"You think so?" the female Vinvocci pressed on her watch and the five of them were teleported onto their ship orbiting Earth.
"Now get me out of this thing!" The Doctor struggled against the restrains.
"Say please!" Thea glared.
He glared right back but she didn't back down, crossing her arms, evening holding up a finger as the male Vinvocci moved to release the Doctor. "Please." he grit out.
"Was that so hard?" she asked as the Vinvocci worked on getting him out of the restrains.
"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!"
Wilf wander off a few feet away, catching sight of the large window, staring out in awe, "Oh, my goodness me. We're in space!"
"Come on!" the Doctor snapped. "Oh, get a move on! come on!"
"Oh, do shut up, Doctor!" Thea yelled at him, "this is your fault in the first place!"
"My fault?" he scoffed, "how is this my fault."
"If it wasn't for your meddling in time the Master would have never made it to 21st century Earth." she said simply.
"That wasn't my fault." he defended weakly.
Though he knew, in the back of his mind, it partly was his fault. He had mentioned about Time Lords to professor Yana enough to have the Masters Time Lord essence make itself heard in his fob watch. If he hadn't gone to the end of the universe the Master would have been stuck there and died of an old human age.
If not for him, for either of them, the Humanrace would still exist today and not be the Masterrace.
Thea crossed her arms and turned away from him.
The moment he was free the Doctor jumped up, pulling out his sonic and flashing it at the teleport controls to ensure the Master couldn't follow them.
"Where's your flight deck?" the Doctor asked the aliens.
"But we're safe." the female Vinvocci countered, "We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth."
"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire."
"Good point." she nodded, turning and leading them to the flight deck.
Thea sighed, shaking her head to see the three of them rush out and moved to Wilfs side, lightly taking his arm to follow.
"But we're in space!" he pointed.
"Yes, we are." she agreed, "a lovely view, we can admire it later." she pulled him off after the others into the flight deck were the Doctor was still shouting.
"We've got to close it down!"
The man shook his head, "No chance, mate. We're going home."
"We're just a salvage team." his partner added, "Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better."
"We're not leaving." the Doctor flashed the sonic at the controls as everything went dead, the room went dark as they were left in silence...only hearing the creaking of the ship.
"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush." the Doctor shushed them, a finger to his lips.
"He's lost our signal." Thea whispered, "he cant trace us."
"No sign of any missiles." the female Vinvocci remarked bitterly, "No sign of anything. You've wrecked the place!"
"The engines are burnt out." the male Vinvocci added, "All we've got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit."
"Thanks to you, you idiot!" she shouted and stormed out. Her partner quickly rushing out after her.
"I know you, though." Wilf began stepping up to the Doctor as Thea stepped away and moved to the window, staring out at the planet below, "I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on. You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flim-flam, sort of thing? Eh?" but the Doctor just gave him a solemn look, "Oh, blimey."
~.~
Thea stood before the window, staring down at the planet, sorrow in her eyes. She had never been fond on the planet Earth or humans in general, until she had actually met them. Most of the universe didn't care about the planet, to them it was only a level 5 planet and humans in this time had no idea about the other species across the stars. They saw humans as nothing but silly little humans.
But they were so much more than that. And they didn't deserve this.
She sighed, hearing the Doctor at the controls behind her, working on some wiring. It was just the two of them, neither of the Vinvocci had returned and Wilf had wandered off to explore the ship. They hadn't spoken a word.
She closed her eyes a moment before moving back to the Doctors side, sitting besides him, "I believe an apology is in order."
"You want me to apologise to you?" he gaped at her. She just looked at him, a faint smile on her lips, almost amused he jumped to that conclusion, "you meant...you were going to..." he rubbed the back of his neck, "right, sorry."
"Me too." She offered, "I shouldn't have said those words."
"No, they were true." he swallowed.
"Maybe they were. They were harsh and I am sorry for saying them."
"It's alright. Sometimes I need someone to shout at me." he sighed, "Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long."
"Or not long enough," she murmured, "Those drums he's hears," she began, "what if they didn't come from his insanity, what if they were implanted in him."
"I heard them." the Doctor murmured.
Back in the wasteland when he had been chasing after the Master, the man had forced them on him. He had heard them, all those years he had assumed it was a sign of his insanity, but the drums really did exist.
"They're real."
She silently nodded her agreement, turning her gaze back to the window, stiffening as a white streak shot across the sky, "Doctor!" she jumped up, rushing to the window.
The Doctor stared wide eyed, "what was that?"
"Where did it come from?" Thea shook her head.
It had just appeared, like it had come from out of time. Whatever it was, it made her very uncomfortable.
"Aye, aye." Wilf greeted as he stepped into the room a few minutes later, "Got this old tub mended?"
"Just trying to fix the heating." the Doctor mumbled.
"Oh," he sat down besides the man, looking over to see Thea standing before the window, "I've always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut." he lightly slapped his hands on his knees, "it's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"
"I'm sorry." the Doctor swallowed.
"No, not your fault."
"Isn't it?"
"No." Thea stated, turning to him at that, "its not. This is the Masters doing, not yours."
"And yet if not for me he would still be trapped at the end of the universe." he sighed, reminding her of the words she had spoken to him.
"Perhaps." she agreed, moving to sit on his other side, "but that man seems to survive the most impossible deaths, somehow, especially if a prophecy is involved, I believe he would have found another way back."
"You reckon?"
"Anything is possible."
"Oh, 1948, I was over there." Wilf pointed to the Earth, "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. 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 told him, "Thea is as well, aren't you?" he glanced at her.
He didn't know how old she was, and didn't want to pry but she had told him she had left Gallifrey before the war after Graduating and if she had been on Earth for a few years now that made her at least 410, seeing as how a Time Lord graduated after 400 years, making them 408 at their graduation ceremony. She could be even older than that. One could never tell with regeneration, though, if she saw Sarah Jane as a mother he did believe she was at least younger than himself.
"Get out." Wilf blinked.
"I'm 906."
"What, really, though?"
"Yeah."
"900 years." Wilf breathed, "We must look like insects to you."
"I think you look like giants."
Wilf inhaled and pulled out his gun, "Listen, I...I want you to have this. I've kept it all this time, and I thought..."
"No." the Doctor shook his head.
"No, but if you take it, you could..."
"No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then."
"Too scared, I suppose."
"I'd be proud." the Doctor looked at Wilf.
"Of what?"
"If you were my dad."
"Oh, come on, don't start." Wilf waved him off, "But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."
"Yeah."
"He's going to kill you?" Thea gaped at him. That was important information that he should have told her. "why didn't you say anything? What is this prophecy? I think I need to know it."
"You don't." the Doctor said firmly.
"But..."
"The less you get involved the better."
"But I am involved. The moment he stepped in the Gate and took my family was the moment I got involved whether either of you like it or not. I won't let him kill you."
"Then kill him first." Wilf cut in.
The Doctor sighed at that, "And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't." he shook his head, "I just can't."
"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"
"I don't know."
"Doctor, what happens?"
But Thea beat him to an answer, "The template snaps. They got back to being humans like nothing ever happened." she told him honestly, "they won't even be aware of what happened."
"Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die." he started to sob as he tried to hand the gun over.
"Never." the Doctor pushed the gun back.
"When you say the Masters going to kill you." Thea began slowly, "is that regeneration or...permanent?"
"I don't know."
She let out a breath at that, regeneration she could handle, as much as it hurt knowing you were technically dying, all of your cells being rewritten and a new person took over still continuing as you. It sounded odd to talk about it to others who had no idea what it was, but it was far better than the alternative to permanently die.
Regeneration she could handle, permanently dying, not so much.
"A star fell from the sky." the Masters voice suddenly called, "Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a Whitepoint Star," the Doctor tensed as Thea gasped, "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? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be...spectacular. Over and out."
"What's he on about?" Wilf frowned, "What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?"
"A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey." The Doctor stated, "Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning."
"Not just Time Lords," Thea added, "you said the prophecy said something, not some one. Would that mean Gallifrey is also returning?"
"Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it?" Wilf frowned, looking between them as the Doctor looked horrified while Thea just looked stunned, "I mean, that's your people."
The Doctor looked at Thea, swallowed hard and grabbed Wilfs gun, running from the room.
"Doctor!" Thea shouted running after him.
Gallifrey was coming back, wasn't that good? It would be a different story if it was the Daleks as well. But the Daleks were already back, so why was it so bad for the Time Lords to return as well? Why did he want to stop the Master?
Why didn't he want their people back?
Thea caught up with him in another control room as he switching on a radio system allowing the four beat rhythm to play.
"What's that?" the female Vinvocci frowned.
"Coming from Earth." her partner reported, "it's on every single wavelength."
"But you said your people were dead. Past tense." Wilf reminded him.
"Inside the Time War." the Doctor nodded, "And the whole War was Timelocked. Like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but just think of a bubble. 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."
"The Drumming." Thea answered.
The Doctor didn't looked at her, he couldn't. Even if he tried to talk to her to get her to understand he doubted she would, not with Gallifrey being so close. She hadn't been there, she didn't know how much the war had affected their people, "If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die."
"Well, then, big reunion." Wilf chuckled, "We'll have a party."
"There will be no party."
"But that's our people, are families," Thea shook her head, not understanding why he didn't want them back. "it's home!"
"I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful." Wilf agreed.
The Doctor swallowed, closing his eyes, "That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen my enemies. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."
Thea let out a breath at that, "truly?"
She knew Time Lords were a stubborn and powerful bunch and if the Doctor claimed that war had changed them so much that they became so dangerous that he had no choice but to lock them away, she would believe him and help him. She didn't want to loose their home and people again, but if they were that bad they have to stop them returning and destroying the universe.
The Doctor looked at her, solemn, "I'm sorry." he offered. It wasn't something anyone wanted to hear, that their own people had become the worst and most dangerous being in the universe. He didn't think she would believe him, why would she? She hadn't been there, hadn't seen what he had become.
"Right, you." the Doctor spun to the female Vinvocci, "This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"
"Yeah, what about it?" She blinked at the sudden change in topic.
"So, you've got asteroid lasers!"
"Yeah, but they're all frazzled." the male Vinvocci frowned.
"Consider them unfrazzled." the Doctor pulled down a lever open two doors on either side of the room, "You there, what's your name?" He turned to the female Vinvocci, "I'm going to need you on navigation." and then at the male, "And you, get in the laser-pod. Wilfred."
"Yeah?" He looked over.
"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle."
"But if we power up the Master will be able to see us." Thea pointed out.
"Oh, yes." the Doctor nodded.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
He looked at her, "Please just trust me."
She looked at him seeing the pleading in his eyes, knowing that she didn't understand just how bad the war had gotten but if he was so sure Gallifrey shouldn't return then maybe it shouldn't.
She nodded, "I'm with you."
She just hoped this wasn't a mistake.
"This is my ship, and you're not moving it." the female Vinvocci states firmly, "Step away from the wheel."
"There's an old Earth saying, Captain." the Doctor began, "A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."
"What's that, then?"
"Allons-y!" with that the Doctor sent them plummeting down to the Earth, sending Thea stumbling back to another set of controls as they burnt through the atmosphere, "Come on! Come on!"
"You are blinking, flipping mad." the female Vinvocci cried.
The Doctor ignored her looked at the two men, "You two. What did I say? Lasers."
"What for?" the male Vinvocci frowned.
"Missiles." Thea gasped, trying to keep herself steady as she grabbed onto the controls and tried to keep the queasy feeling in her stomach to a minimum. She had never been the best flyer, tended to get quite sick, which was part of the reason she was so mad at herself for taking a shuttle than a TARDIS. A TARDIS should be a smoother ride.
"We've got to fight off an entire planet." The Doctor added.
The two men quickly ran off to prepare to fire back as the female Vinvocci reported, "We've got incoming."
"Open fire!"
The Doctor sharply turned the ship narrowly avoiding the missiles as Wilf and the Vinvocci fired back.
"Open fire! Come on, Wilf!"
"And there's more." The female Vinvocci groaned, "16 of them. Oh, and another 16."
"Get to the rear gun lasers, Thea!" the Doctor called to her.
"Aye aye, Captain." Thea swallowed and quickly ran out of the room to man the other laser.
"You two, open fire!" he shouted to the men, "Now!"
Thea started firing at the lasers coming at them from behind while the Vinvocci and Wilf took care if the front ones. She struggled to remain steady from the Doctors erratic driving. Had he ever even passed a pilots test?
Rumours from Gallifrey claimed he never passed his TARDIS examinations so she assumed he was making it up as he went alone.
"Careful!" She yelled as his sharp turning nearly sent her flying into the wall besides her.
"No, you don't!" the Doctor spat, turning the ship into a spin as Wilf and the Vinvocci took down the last few lasers. The front windows blown through.
"Doctor!" Thea cried as she stumbled her way back into the room, grabbing hold of the bottom of his suit jacket to keep herself steady, "I still don't understand why this is bad!"
The Doctor ignored her, calling to the female Vinvocci, "Lock the navigation."
"Onto what?" she asked.
"England. The Naismith mansion."
"Doctor," Thea looked at him, "why is Gallifrey returning so bad? You asked me to trust you, and I will, but I want an answer."
"Thea, please," the Doctor groaned, not having the time to try and explain his reasoning's to her right now, he slipped into Gallifreyan, "I just need you to trust me, and I'll explain when you're not fighting for our life's."
"You better." She warned him. She turned to the Vinvocci, "how far are we?"
"50 kliks and closing." she answered, "We've locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though. Doctor? We are going to stop?"
"Doctor?" Wilf called as he and the Vinvocci ran back into the room, "Doctor, you said you were going to die."
"He said what?"
"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?"
The Doctor was silent as he aimed the ship at the Naismith Mansion, pulling up at the last second. He locked the controls and ran to the hatch on the floor, lifting it, pulling out the gun and jumping through it.
"Oh, like hell," Thea muttered.
There was no way in the universe she was going to stand there and die because she had gotten involved in whatever issues the Doctor and Master had going on.
She'd take a death by Cyberman over death by fellow Time Lord.
She jumped down after him. He hadn't even explained why it was so bad for the Time Lords to return, asking her to trust him (and she would) but she still wanted him to explain. She hated being left in the dark, as used to it as she was. She always found out in the end.
~.~
The Doctor crashed through the domed ceiling of the Naismith mansion, falling with a grunt on his stomach. he forced himself up, reaching for the gun and aiming it...
Right at Lord President Rassilon.
Standing before him was the president of Gallifrey, found of Time Lord society, standing there with two woman on either side of him, their faces covered like Weeping Angels, with two guards on the edges. A white portal swirled behind them from where they had come through. Behind him the Master stood facing the Time Lords besides a device with the Whitepoint Star glistening inside.
The Doctor tried to keep his arm up and steady but dropped it, panting as a shout reached his ears and Thea landed besides him with a thud and a gasp.
"My Lord Doctor." Rassilon sneered, "My Lord Master." he shifted his gaze to Thea, eying her with distaste, he had heard great things from the Visionary about her. But she didn't look like much, perhaps if she hadn't left Gallifrey and had decided to follow her parents footsteps she could have been a very powerful lady on the council, but instead she went renegade herself, choosing to leave Gallifrey and went gallivanting the universe, now she wasn't even worthy enough for him to speak her name, "We are gathered for the end."
"Listen to me." the Doctor pushed himself onto his knees, "You can't!"
"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."
"Why would he save you?" Thea looked up at him, not even trying to move to sit up, her body ached all over and she was shaking, not from pain but from speaking to the Founder like this.
"Oh, he's not saving you." the Doctor spat, "Don't you realise what he's doing?"
"Hey, no, hey!" the Master pointed warningly at him, "That's mine. Hush." he turned to Rassilon, "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 gave him an unamused looked, simply raising his hand covered with a metal gauntlet as it began to glow as he opened his hand the humans began to shake their heads, morphing back into humans.
"No, no, don't!" The Master was close to whining, "No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don't!"
Rassilon lowered his arm again, "On your knees, mankind." He ordered.
The humans did so, terrified.
"No, that's fine," the Master nodded, "that's good, because you said salvation. I still saved you. Don't forget that."
Rassilon held his arms wide, smiling as the room began to shake, "the approach begins."
"Approach of what?" The Master frowned.
"Something is returning." The Doctor glared at the Master, "Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something."
"What is it?"
"They're not just bringing back the species. It's Gallifrey. Right here, right now."
Thea looked up able to see a large red planet slowly appearing in the sky above. Gallifrey. Home. "its Gallifrey!"
The Master dropped to one knee, as the humans screamed and ran from the room, "But, I did this. I get the credit. I'm on your side."
"Come on, get out of the way." Wilf fought his way inside against the fleeing humans, "Get out of the way! Doctor?" he trailed, seeing a human in one of the booths, desperately trying to get out, "All right! I've got you, mate. I've got you." He headed inside the open booth, either ignoring the Doctor warning or just not hearing him, "I've got you. Come on. Go on." He locked himself inside, freeing the other man who quickly ran off.
"But this is fantastic, isn't it?" The Master shook his head, straightening, "The Time Lords restored."
"You weren't there in the final days of the War." the Doctor glared at him, "You never saw what was born. But if the Timelock's broken, then everything's coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-have-been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell."
"What?" Thea breathed.
She knew the Time War had started to spread across the stars, she had seen a few who had survived the cross fire, those who had lost everything because of the war, but to hear that so many others had gotten involved, that it wasn't just Daleks vs Time Lords. No wonder the Doctor had felt the need to lock them all away.
"And that's what you've opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending."
"My kind of world." the Master smirked.
"Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can't survive that."
"What do you mean?" Thea winced as she sat up.
"We will initiate the Final Sanction." Rassilon called, making Theas head snap up, "The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart."
"That's suicide!" The Master shouted.
"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone." Rassilon announced, "Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be."
"You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them."
"Oh, my stars." Thea breathed.
She hadn't known, nobody but himself had known. She thought the Doctor ended the war to get rid of the Daleks but he had done it to save the universe from the Time Lords. Their own people had become the greatest threat to the universe.
"Then, take me with you, Lord President." the Master offered himself, "Let me ascend into glory."
"You don't get it, do you?" Thea shook her head at him, "that noise, that link to Gallifrey in your head was all from him. He manipulated your life for this moment. All you could have been, should have been, gone, because he wanted to survive."
"You are diseased," Rassilon sneered, "albeit a disease of our own making. No more." he raised his gauntlet once more...when a click sounded.
The Doctor had gotten to his feet and was pointing Wilfs gun at the President.
"Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one."
"But he's the President." the Master countered, "Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours."
Thea scoffed at that. She had heard that the man had been granted presidency of the planet once before and he had run off not even an hour later. That had caused quite the scandal in the Citadel rushing to find someone else to take up the power. The Doctor didn't want to rule Gallifrey. Why would he? All of Gallifreys presidents ended up corrupted with power.
The Doctor turned and pointed the gun at the Master, "He's to blame, not me. Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it." He smirked as the Doctor turned back to Rassilon, "Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the link. Kill him!"
"The final act of your life is murder." Rassilon stated, "But which one of us?"
The Doctor held his gaze with Rassilon, fully prepared to murder the man if it meat the universe could be saved. He didn't want to do it. He found that even one life was just as important as many, but right now this was one man or the universe. He could do this. From the corner of his eye he saw one of the women slowly lowering her hands to look at him, her face stained with tears.
He wanted his mother to be proud of him, he didn't want to be a terrible son as much as he knew he had caused her so much stress in his childhood. He didn't want to kill someone in front of her.
He saw her gaze flicker behind him and blinked, realising what he was meant to do.
He spun back around, "Get out of the way." he told the Master. The man didn't hesitate as he jumped aside and the Doctor fired the gun at his device, breaking the link.
"The link is broken!" The Doctor shouted back at Rassilon, "Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell."
Thea swallowed seeing Gallifrey flicker out of existence again, falling once more.
"You'll die with me, Doctor." Rassilon threatened.
"I know." he nodded, swallowed as he excepted his fate.
"No!" Thea shouted, standing up and moving before the man.
He had just saved the universe once again, carrying that guilt once more, alone. She wasn't going to let him die. Prophecies be damned!
The Master pulled himself up, "Get out of the way." he ordered.
The Doctor didn't hesitate to dive aside, pulling Thea down with him before she could acknowledge what was happening.
The Master sent a bolt of energy to Rassilon, hitting him in the chest, "you did this to me!" he shouted, "all of my life!" he sent another energy bolt, "You made me!" he counted, sending more bolts as he stepped closer to the Time Lord, sending him to his knees, "One! Two! Three! Four!"
The Doctor turned, shielding Thea as the room filled with a bright light, the Master getting pulled into it as Gallifrey faded and the Time Lords returned to the Time Lock.
~.~
"Doctor?" A voice called as the man slowly came round, lying on the floor on the Naismith mansion, "Doctor!"
He blinked, seeing Thea lying on the floor besides him, his arm over her body from when he had tried to shield her. He hadn't even thought about it, just a natural reaction to protect the kid from the unfortunate events she had been pulled into.
"I'm alive..." he whispered, wincing as he moved, "I'm alive..."
"For now at least." Thea offered, "sorry." she winced, shaking her head, "um, thank you."
She didn't really know what to say now, but she didn't need to speak as four knocks sounded. And four more. And another four. They both looked over to see Wilf knocking four more times on the glass of the booth he was locked in.
"They gone, then?" he gave a small wave, "yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?"
"Yeah." The Doctor swallowed as he realised that it wasn't the four beats from the Master that would kill him but Wilfs knocking to be let out.
"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise."
"The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running." Thea murmured, seeing the relief at surviving in the Doctors eyes disappearing, "It's gone into overload."
"And that's bad, is it?" Wilf guessed.
"No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there." the Doctor pushed himself up, "Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing."
"Oh. Well, you'd better let me out, then."
"Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods," he pulled his sonic from his pocket, "Even this would set it off."
"I'm sorry."
"Sure." the Doctor whispered.
"Look, just leave me."
"Okay, right then, I will." the Doctor scoffed, starting to pace, "I'll take Thea home and be off. Because you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes! Because that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time."
"No really, just leave me." Wilf pleaded, "I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time."
"Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more!" he shouted up to the heavens, to fate and the universe, "But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!" he turned to a table, pushing the items off it, "Oh." he let out a breath, "Oh. I've lived too long."
"No. No, no, please, please don't. No, don't! Please don't! Please!"
"Doctor!" Thea jumped up as he made his way to the empty booth to let Wilf our, "please...let me."
"I can't let you do that." he shook his head, sadly, "you're still young Thea, you've got all you're life's ahead of you."
She crossed her arms, not about to let him talk down to her just because he was about to die. He had every right to be upset, yes, but to talk to her like she was nothing. She had been there and done that.
No more.
"You assume I'm young because I look it." she told him, "because I told you I left Gallifrey after graduating and have only been on Earth a few years. You assumed nothing happened in between. You never should assume anything about anyone, Doctor, without getting to know them."
"The prophecy was about me."
"Damn the prophecies, and damn the universe for decided how anyone should die or live their life's."
"Thank you, Thea," he told her, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze before turning to Wilf, "Wilfred, it's my honour. Better be quick. Three, two, one." he quickly stepped into the booth, pushing the button as Wilf stumbled out and a red light shone in the booth the Doctor was in, radiation pouring out.
The two watched in horror as the Doctor screaming in agony, withering in pain as he fell to the floor, curling up into a ball and the machine powered down.
"Doctor!" Thea ran over, seeing that he was still alive, this wasn't going to be a permanent death and he would only regenerate. The man slowly sat up and looked at them.
"What?" Wilf blinked, "Hello."
"Hi." the Doctor breathed.
"Still with us?"
"The systems dead," Thea eyed him, "You absorbed it all." she pulled on the door which easily opened now.
"Oh. Now it opens, yeah." The Doctor muttered.
"Well, there we are, then." Wilf smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "Safe and sound. Mind you," he eyed their faces, seeing the cuts and bruises they'd both relieved from jumping down from the ship, "you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there..." he trailed as the Doctor ran his hands over his face, his cuts healing, "But they've. Your face. How did you do that?"
The Doctor looked down at his hands seeing they were fading, "It's started."
They'd dropped Wilf back home, where Donna had been waking up from the metercrisis not that the Doctor had gone to see her, she had her family and he wanted to claim his reward and so he'd gone to see his old companions and friends from this body. He'd gone to see Martha and Mickey smith, old companions who had gotten married. Freelancing and defending the Earth from aliens. They'd been fighting off a lone Sontaran which the Doctor had knocked it on the back of its probic vent before it could shoot at the humans. They had noticed him but the Doctor hadn't said anything. Silently walking back to the TARDIS where Thea stood waiting for him.
"Bannerman Road then." The Doctor mumbled, moving around the console to send them off.
"Last time," Thea began, watching him work, "you asked me to travel with you," she looked at the Doctor as he looked up at her. "is that...is that offer is on?" she asked quietly.
She didn't want to be rude or demanding. For all she knew he had changed his mind about welcoming her aboard. How many people turned him down and then got asked once again? But they were the last of the Time Lords, again. It was just the two of them now. Him and her against the universe and perhaps she would quite like a bigger adventure than Earth. Earth was fine and she loved her friends and new found family, but sometimes you needed to be around another immortal. Sometimes it was tiring to pretend to be human, to be someone she wasn't. With him she could be herself even more than with Sarah Jane.
He smiled at her, "it is."
"Then I'd like to accept it, this time."
"I'd like that very much."
~.~
Luke Smith walked down the street, talking on his mobile, "one moment she was there and the next she was gone." he say saying to Clyde on the other side, "mum doesn't know what happened or where Thea went. She must have known something was going on. But she didn't even leave a note! Of course I'm worried, she's my sister. I know she can look after herself but still..." he was cut off as he was suddenly pushed aside, back onto the path as he stepped onto the road, oblivious to the car that nearly hit him. "Thea!" he gasped, seeing the girl hugging him tightly and instantly hugged him back.
"You didn't even look!" she shouted at him, "You just walked right out in the middle of the road, on your phone. Is that Clyde?" she guessed, "distracting you."
"You'd just gone." he defended, "you disappeared and everyone had a different face."
"Well you're you again now." she assured him, hugging him again.
Luke frowned, seeing the TARDIS across the road, the Doctor standing solemn as he leaned against the doorway, giving him a small nod. "You're going, aren't you?"
"I..." she gave him an apologetic look, "I'll call you, as soon as I can, things happened and..." she glanced back to the Doctor, "I can't leave him, not now. Tell mum that I'm fine and I'll call her as soon as I can and not to worry because I'm with the Doctor." she bit her lip, "so maybe worry the normal amount."
"But..."
"I got to go! I love you!" she kissed his cheek, "and I'll come back, and I'll bring gifts and I love you, but I got to go."
With that she quickly ran back across the road, making a point to Luke to check the road was clear as she ran back to the TARDIS.
"Mum!" Luke shouted, turning and running down the drive as Sarah Jane came out the house, "I found Thea! She was with the Doctor!"
"What?" Sarah Jane shook her head before seeing the TARDIS and two Time Lords standing there.
Sarah Jane smiled sadly seeing the Doctors solemn face and knowing the reason why now it was that Thea a had decided to travel with him.
~.~
They'd gone to see the immortal Captain Jack Harkness next, the Doctor finding him in a bar and slipping him a note about the man next to him. He given the man a small salute and headed off.
He gone to see Verity Newman, the granddaughter of Joan Red fern who had been a Matron in 1913, someone the Doctor had met who he and hidden as a human for a time from the Family. The woman had found her grandmother's diary and had published it, recognising the Doctor.
He had gone to Donna's wedding next, hiding back in the bushes as Thea waited respectfully in the TARDIS. Wilf had spotted him and come over with his granddaughter as the Doctor handed him a winning lottery ticket. It was enough to give Donna a start in her new life with her husband and he had gotten the ticket from the womans' father. So it was almost like the girl had gotten a wedding gift from her dad even though he couldn't be there.
Wilf had been near tears as the Doctor turned to leave to see one more person
Rose Tyler.
His first companion after the war, and the first human face this body had seen.
Sarah Jane had told Thea the girl had been trapped in a parallel universe as a battle between Daleks and Cybermen in Canary Wharf and had broken back through when the Daleks attacked on the crucible but the Doctor had ultimate had to take her back there.
So he had gone to see the woman before she would meet him. New Years 2005, the start of the year she would meet him.
Rose had run off after wishing him a Happy New Year and the Doctor stumbled back into the TARDIS.
Thea held open the TARDIS doors as the Doctor fell to his knees, she hurried to his side, "I've got you." she out his arm round her shoulder and helped him back up, "Come on."
"We will sing to you, Doctor." an Ood appeared before them, "The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending, but the story never ends."
A soft song filled the air as Thea helped the Doctor back into the TARDIS.
"We don't have time to get you to the Zero Room," Thea remarked, watching the Doctor carefully as he removed his coat and hung it on a y-beam. It could be quite dangerous to hold of regeneration this long. You weren't supposed to unless you were in a small crowded space then you were supposed to go somewhere clear to regenerate with little casualties.
The Doctor looked down at his hands as they began to glow with regeneration energy, "I don't want to go." he whispered.
"It's alright." Thea assured him, moving back to a safe distance to not get caught in the energy and get hurt herself, "I'm here, Doctor. You're not alone."
The energy slowly brightened as the Doctor threw his head back, his arms out as the energy exploded out of him.
Thea quickly ducked behind the captain chairs as the console exploded, fires starting around the room. She gasped, jumping aside narrowly avoided being singed.
"Doctor!" She shouted over at him as the energy faded, seeing he was a man again, slightly more muscular this time, with floppy brown hair and deep green eyes. She blinked, not actually able to see any eyebrows. Oh, no, she could, they were just delicate and nearly invisible as his new rather large chin drew her gaze down.
"Doctor?" She called again but he simply held up a finger to her, checking himself down, ensuring his was all in one piece.
"Legs!" He cheered, holding one up to inspect it closer, "I've still got legs. Good. Arms. Hands. Ooh, fingers." He wiggled his fingers, "Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey." his eyes widened, "Hair." he ran his fingers through its length, "I'm a girl!"
"Don't say it like its a bad thing!" Thea frowned.
He grabbed his Adams apple, "No." He nodded, "No. I'm not a girl." He pulled his hair over his eyes, "And still not ginger. And something else. Something important. I'm..." he spun, stopping and staring as he noticed Thea cowering behind the captains chair, "we're...we're...we're crashing!" He laughed.
"That's not a good thing!" Thea cried, only to scream as another fire started right besides her and she jumped up away from it. "Do something!"
The Doctor grinned, rushing to the console, "Geronimo!"