Arthur gasps as he's standing on a snow field with…nothingness. He can only see white surrounding him.
"What news of the Doctor?" someone asked from above.
The brunette looks up, where it seems to be some sort of cabinet room. There's seven Time Lords sitting, three on each side, whilst a woman is at the far end, scribbling on parchments, while there's one in the middle.
"Disappeared, my Lord President," a Time Lord stated.
"But we know his intention. He still possesses the Moment. And he'll use it, to destroy Daleks and Time Lords alike," a Time Lady added.
"The Visionary confirms it."
At the other end of the table is an old woman with long straggly grey hair. Across her face and hands are tattooed lines and dots. In front of her are sheets of paper bearing writing and drawings. "Ending, burning, falling, all of it falling, the black and pitch and screaming fire, so burning."
"All of her prophecies say the same, that this is the last day of the Time war, that Gallifrey falls, that we die, today."
"Ending... Ending. Ending. Ending!"
"Perhaps it's time. This is only the furthest edge of the Time War. But at its heart, millions die every second, lost in bloodlust and insanity. With time itself resurrecting them, to find new ways of dying, over and over again, a travesty of life. Isn't it better to end it, at last?" the Time Lady pointed out.
The President stands up. "Thank you for your opinion," he said, then held out a gauntlet-covered hand in her direction. It glows with energy and the woman disintegrates with a scream. "I will NOT die! Do you hear me?! A billion years of Time Lord history riding on our backs. I will not let this perish. I will not!"
Arthur watches the scene with horror. He knows the Time Lords are very, very egoistic when it comes to winning. But this…this is too far.
"There is, um," a Time Lord added and picked up one of the Visionary's scrolls as he gave it to him. "There is one part of the prophecy, my Lord. Forgive me. I'm sorry. It's rather difficult to decipher. But it talks of three survivors, beyond the Final Day, two children of Gallifrey and a child of song."
"Does it name them?" The President asked.
"The two children, it foresees them locked in their final confrontation, the enmity of ages, which would suggest…"
"The Doctor! And the Master! And the child?"
"A child born after the war. A powerful being born with… a time vortex." Everyone—minus the President and Visionary—gasp and concern themselves with what the man had just said. Considering his last encounter with a Time Lady from the past, he doesn't need to guess why they react like that. "The human sees him as a fox. The Firefox. But he had another name."
"The Explorer," the Visionary revealed. "A child who spins across time and space, born beyond our time, the most powerful visionary that ever existed. And he shall bring the downfall of our sin."
The President snarls that last remark. The Time Lord beside him quickly mentions, "One word keeps being repeated, my Lord, one constant word. Firefox's homeplanet, Earth."
"Earth. Earth. Earth! Earth! Earth...!"
"The planet Earth, indigenous species, the human race."
A hologram projection of Earth appears above the table. "Maybe that's where the answer lies. Our salvation, on Earth," the President realised with a maniac laugh.
"You had to stop him," someone beside him warned. Bad Wolf. "Rassilon cannot win the Time War at any cost."
"Why?" Arthur frowns. The Doctor never told him what exactly Rassilon will do to win. He always ignores his question regarding it. "What will Rassilon, one of the founding fathers, do?"
She glances at him. Her golden eyes glowing to him, worry. "You'll find out very soon."
Then, the next thing he knows, he is face to face with two aliens who look like cacti, staring at him with confusion as they hold a gun in their hands. "What?" he asked before notices that someone else with a military soldier uniform lay down beneath him, probably from knocking out. "Oh."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Where's the Tardis?" The Master demanded the Doctor, who had been strapped upright to a trolley, holding a confession dial that belongs to Arthur Jonas before his departure. Thr Doctor somehow manage to hold one and he needs to know the secret that annoying brat had kept.
"No. Just stop. Just think," the Doctor pleaded to his best friend.
"Kill him," he ordered. A helmeted guard goes over to Wilf, aiming the rifle at the old man. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead."
"Don't tell him," Wilf warned.
"I'll kill him right now!"
"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid," the Doctor mused.
The Master, being not amused, glares. "Wait for my signal."
"You've got 6 billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"
"Like what?"
"That guard is two inches too tall."
The guard knocks out the Master with his rifle butt, then removes his helmet to reveal Arthur Jonas. His brown hair got messy. "Is that good enough?" He asked them. He never uses a rifle to knock someone out, so he needs to be sure.
Both Vinvoccis, Addams and Rossiter, run in. "Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast," Addams said as she and her partner free Wilf while Arthur releases the Doctor.
"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf stated.
"That's cacti," both the Doctor and Arthur corrected.
"That's racist!" Rossiter huffed.
As another version of the Master speaks from a TV (from what Arthur can get, the one who used to be the Prime Minister of UK and had turned the human race into him), Arthur realises that more of him will come. "Just wheel him! We don't have much time!"
"No, no, no!" The Doctor disagreed as Arthur's wheeling the trolley. "Arthur, get me out! No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no!"
"Be quiet!" He huffed, kept pushing the trolley into a corridor. Man, his father can be so fussy. "Which way?"
"This way," Addams pointed at the front.
"No, no, no, no, no. The other way. I've got my Tardis!" The Doctor yelled.
"Lead the way," Arthur suggested.
"No, no, no, just…just listen to me!"
"Don't shout!"
"Not the stairs, Arthur. Not the stairs!" He yelped as Arthur pushed the trolley down the stairs, causing him to move up-and-down over and over. "Worst. Rescue. Ever!"
"Yeah? Get used to it," Arthur answered, rolling his eyes at his childish comment as Addams guided them all to a room.
"Just…just stop and listen to me!"
The Master runs in with armed guards. "Gotcha."
"You think so?" Addams retorted as she pressed her wristwatch, not even bothering the protest out of the Doctor as she sent them far from that place…into a spaceship.
"Now get me out of this thing!" The Doctor yelled as Arthur looked at the nearby window, where he can see Earth below.
Wilf walks beside him, looking out at the planet. "Oh, my goodness me. We're in space!"
"Amazing, huh?" Arthur beamed. "Sometimes I look at planets around…and I can't stop myself from being amazed at the sight. Including Earth."
Wilf glances at him, taking a good look at him now that they're out of danger. "I know you, didn't I?"
The brunette man looks distant as he remembers the memory of Titanic II and the whole disaster that happened before they both startled at the explosion behind them. "Christmas 2007," he recalled. "You were selling newspapers. The only man who stays in London while everyone else is moving away."
"That was you?! You…You're Artie?!"
Before he can say something at the shocked Wilf, the Doctor quickly drags them back out of the room.
"But we're in space!" Wilf exclaimed.
"Yep."
"Maybe we can think of that later," Arthur suggested, sensing how their situation might not be saved as he thinks it is.
"We've got to close it down!" The Doctor yelled as they all inside the flight deck.
"No chance, mate," Rossiter disagreed. "We're going home."
"We're just a salvage team," Addams agreed. "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 can't leave!" Arthur argues and he quickly uses his time vortex to sabotage the flight controls and makes the whole spaceship go dark. There's no way he's going to leave Earth, the planet he was raised on, in the hands of a crazy Time Lord. "And now, stay quiet."
"What?!"
"Shush!" The Doctor whispered, which she complied as they all went quiet.
"Anything?" A General Master asked.
"I'm sorry, sir. Nothing."
"Lost him."
"What about teleport coordinates?" The Original Master inquired. "I need that information."
"He's cut the link, sir," A Guard Master responded. "No trace. All dead."
"He can't reach us," Arthur informed.
"No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything," Addams glares at him. "You've wrecked the place!"
"The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput," Rossiter reported, checking the console. "We can't move. We're stuck in orbit."
"Thanks to you, you idiot!"
"Hey, don't call him an idiot!" The Doctor retorted back, not happy at all. "He's doing the right thing!"
"To make us all die!" She barked before leaving.
Trying to ease the mood, Wilf quips at the Doctor. "I know you, though. I bet you and Artie have 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?" He glances at Arthur, who simply shakes his head. "Oh, blimey."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
At night, as Arthur takes a time to wander around, he has time to think of what he has to deal with now. Clearly he had to deal with the Master, probably the youngest one he had encountered (which will make sense why Missy knows him in the future). Rassilon and the Time Lords also had done something regarding this, which Arthur must stop them from doing.
But what can he do now? His visions haven't shown inside his brain. He had no idea what to do. Bad Wolf hasn't answered his questions. Which means, he had to rely on his guess on what's going to happen.
"Sunny."
The brunette man startles at that name and immediately turns around to see who calls him. Nobody besides the Doctor, River, and Idris/Tardis who calls him Sunny. So who's this mysterious woman dressed in a white suit? And why does she look…familiar? "Do I know you?"
"No," the woman sadly said. "But I know your father. You look like him. I want to see you personally."
"Why?"
"You tell me."
Arthur raises his eyebrow, folding his arms. "A visionary," he realised who she might be. "Not a strong one, but still can see the future a little. And a very powerful telepathic power."
"Events are closing. The day is almost upon us. And you, my child, are going to play a role to save your father."
"From what?"
"This is the Doctor's final battle. At the end of his life, he must stand at arms, or lose himself and all this world, to the end of time."
"You're…not seriously asking him to kill someone," Arthur argued, his eyes blazing in anger. "After all he had endured in the Time War! You know the damage it caused to your son!"
She shook her head, regret can be seen in her eyes. "Time is cruel, my child. Your father had done something terrible to define Time, and Time punished him for that…and it will do so in the future. Including you."
Arthur frowns. "I don't follow."
"Not yet, but you will. By the time you understand, you must pay the price."
Arthur shakes his head, glancing down at the warning she had said that sounds similar to what Bad Wolf had warned him before. What are they implying by that? Could this somehow be related to his…death?
When he looks up again to ask more, she's already gone.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
As he enters a room, he hears the Doctor's says to Wilf, "Just trying to fix the heating,"
"That's good. I'm getting tired without it," Arthur quipped as he glanced at Earth.
"Oh. I've always dreamt of a view like that," Wilf admitted with a glee. "Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut. 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 don't think that's something you want to know."
"Yeah. Fair point."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said.
"No, not your fault."
"Isn't it? I know he's coming back. I know he will do something bad to Earth. Yet I keep passive because I cannot lose him."
"Just because you know, doesn't mean you're a horrible person," Arthur remarked seriously as he sat beside Wilf. "You just don't know what to do."
He stays silent. How can he say that, after all he had said to him? After all the pain he caused to this man who didn't deserve it.
"Oh, 1948, I was over there," Wilf shared as he gestured to 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." He glances at them both. "Yeah, you two don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"
"I'm older than you," the Doctor denoted.
"Get away."
"I'm 906."
"What, really, though?"
"Yeah." He looks at Arthur. "And you?"
The brunette man sheepishly looked down, realising how awkward that he's technically older than his father. "Eh, you won't believe me."
"Try me."
"Well…I'm technically 945 years old."
"906 and 945 years?" Wilf repeated, shaking his head. "We must look like insects to you."
"I think you look like giants," the Doctor stated, making Arthur remember what the Scottish Doctor said to Me.
"Listen, I, I want you to have this," he said as he offered his revolver to the Doctor. " I've kept it all this time, and I thought…"
"No."
"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."
"No," Arthur disagreed. "You're too kind. And that isn't a bad thing."
The Doctor smiles at them. "I'd be proud."
"Of what?"
"If you were my dad and my son."
But I am your son, Arthur thought, and cannot say it in front of him. Is this how his parents always think whenever they see his younger selves? Wanting to tell him, but cannot?
"Oh, come on, don't start," Wilf smiles fondly before remembering something that makes him sad. "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," the Doctor answered.
"Then kill him first."
"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…into thinking that it's their fault. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long," he lamented, briefly looking at the gun. "I just can't."
"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"
"Wilfred, you don't want to know," Arthur warned.
"What happens?"
"The template snaps…and they'll return back to normal."
"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," Wilf sternly said before he slowly cries. "And please…don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die."
"Oh, Wilf," Arthur whispers and hugs the poor man.
Before the Doctor can give some comfort words to Wilf, the Master speaks from the com.. "A star fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny, one that the Explorer can predict. The star was a diamond. And the diamond…is a Whitepoint Star. 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, Explorer. This should be spectacular. Over and out."
"What's he on about? What's he doing?" Wilf asked the shaking Doctor.
"Doctor, what does that mean?" Arthur demanded.
"A Whitepoint Star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means…it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning," he answered with a hard expression, giving Arthur shiver and fear on what that means.
"Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people," Wilf pointed out.
"No, Wilf," Arthur shook his head, ready to explain how their situation is worse than ever, before the Doctor takes Wilf's revolver and runs. "Wait!"
As he and Wilf follow the Doctor from behind, Arthur can hear four rhythms beating over and over at his head.
"What's that?" Addams wondered at the beeping noise after the three of them arrived at the flight deck.
"Coming from Earth. It's on every single wavelength," Rossiter realised.
"Not just any wavelength," Arthur added grimly. "It's a wavelength that can be across all time as well."
"That's not possible."
"Contact. At last," Rassilon notices with a smirk.
"I can hear it in my head. It's getting bigger and bigger. And the Time Lords hear it as well," he explained while the Doctor is rushing around, working on bits and pieces to fix the engine.
"But you said your people were dead. Past tense," Wilf mentioned.
"Inside the Time War. And the whole War was Timelocked to prevent the war impacting all time and space even further."
"Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock," the Doctor stated. "Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except…something that was already there."
"The signal. Since he was a kid," Wilf remembered.
"If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die."
"Well, then, big reunion. We'll have a party."
"This isn't a good thing, Wilf," Arthur alluded. "The Time War caused so much damage to all species. Both Time Lords and Daleks are two races that keep fighting over and over and over, until the other party announces defeat. The Time Lords? They won't stop…no matter what. Even if that means sacrificing more innocent creatures and planets."
The Doctor gaped at his explanation. "How did you—"
"You told me, but never in much detail. You never tell me what you did to stop the war…and what they were going to do to finally win the war."
"Time Lords, what lords? Anyone want to explain?" Addams insisted, looking back and forth between them.
Ignoring her questions, the Doctor simply asks something else that matters. "Right, yes, you. This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"So, you've got asteroid lasers!"
"Yeah, but they're all frazzled," Rossiter replied.
"Consider them unfrazzled." The Doctor throws a lever and three gun alcoves open on either side of the flight controls, with one opens at behind. "You there, what's your name?"
"Addams," Arthur shared.
"I'm going to need you on navigation. And you—"
"Rossiter."
"Get in the laser-pod. Wilfred, Arthur."
"Yeah?" Wilf called as Arthur tilted his head.
"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle. Arthur, laser number three. Fast learner. You can do it."
"This ship can't move. It's dead!" Addams reminded him.
"Fix the heating?" He asks before throwing two levers forward, and the ship powers up.
"But they'll know we're here," Arthur realised.
"Oh, yes!"
"This is my ship, and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel," Addams ordered.
"There's an old Earth saying, Miss Addams. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."
"What's that, then?"
"Allons-y?" Arthur guessed.
"Allons-y!" The Doctor cried out and powered the spaceship down towards the Earth and dived through the atmosphere. "Come on! Come on!"
"You are blinking, flipping mad!" Addams gawped.
"What a surprise!" Arthur mocked.
"You three," the Doctor looks at Rossiter, Arthur, and Wilf. "What did I say? Lasers."
"What for?" Rossiter inquired.
"Because of the missiles. We've got to fight off an entire planet."
"Great," Arthur murmured as the three of them headed for the laser pods. Arthur takes the one between the two of them as he sits on the chair, glancing at the devices around him.
"Hey!" Wilf called and whistled. "How does this thing work?"
"This is automatic, yeah?" Arthur guessed.
Rossiter's getting into his own chair while saying. "Yeah, automatic. Just deploy the trigger on the joystick."
"Oh... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wilf reacted.
"We've got incoming!" Arthur warned.
"Look at this one! Oh, my God!" Rossiter shrieked.
"You three! Open fire!" The Doctor yelled from the comm..
"On it!" Arthur replied and 5 seconds later, managed to find a way to adjust his sitting and fire some lasers at one missile. "Two left!"
After some time, Wilf and Rossiter also fire at the missile, causing them to explode. "Whoo!" Wilf cheered. "Oh, I wish Donna could see me now."
"Second wave. Launch missiles," a General Master ordered his subordinates.
"Four incoming!" Arthur warns Wilf and Rossiter before another vision shows him more missiles. "Actually, there's 16…No, 32 incoming missiles!"
"You three, open fire! NOW!" The Doctor exhorted.
Wilf, Rossiter and Arthur continued to fire missiles that kept heading towards their spaceship. This was not easy for Arthur. Apart from not understanding all the functions in front of him, he also had to adapt to the changes in his seating position and the position of his firing targets caused by his father who drove the spaceship in a rather...well, to put it mildly...radical way.
Wilf, Rossiter and Arthur continued to fire missiles that kept heading towards their space ship. This was not easy for Arthur. Apart from not understanding all the functions in front of him, he also had to adapt to the changes in his seating position and the position of his firing targets caused by his father who drove the spaceship in a rather...well, to put it mildly...radical way. Arthur felt sorry for Idris who had survived hundreds of years with the way the Doctor navigated her.
Rassilon strides forward past another Time Lord, where another two are standing, hands over their faces in shame. "The vote is taken. Only two stand against and will stand as monument to their shame, like the Weeping Angels of old," Rassilon remarked. "Now the vanguard stands prepared, as the children of Gallifrey return to the universe…to Earth."
Arthur holds the joystick with rage, cursing as he remembers what happened to the Doctor from the future, who turned into a Weeping Angel so the Division could take her away.
"Come on, Artie!" Wilf shakes him, putting him back to reality. "We're almost there!"
He nods and quickly puts off his seatbelt, joining him and Rossiter as they're heading back to the flight deck. "Doctor, we need to slow down!" Arthur reminded him.
"Doctor…Doctor you said you were going to die!"
"He said what?" Addams blurted.
"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?"
He stays silent.
"They're here," Arthur notices. "Doctor, they're already here!"
The Doctor pulls the spaceship's nose up at the last moment, then opens a hatch in the floor and, with the revolver ready, jumps down through the glass dome. Before anyone else can say something, Arthur follows him. A stupid move, he'll admit, as he's landing on the marble food on his side, wincing by the hard impact he received on his left side of his head, arm, and leg, alongside the scars from the shattered glasses. But there's no way he'll let his father deal with this by himself.
He spots the Doctor, who cannot hold the revolver and stand up, not far from his position. The Gate has been replaced by a white space with raised up two steps. And Rassilon, leader of the Time Lords, stands in front of them. "My Lord Doctor. My Lord Master. My Lord Explorer. We are gathered for the end."
"Listen to me. You can't!" The Doctor begged as Arthur forced himself to walk toward the Doctor, helping him to kneel and managed to lean on Arthur's shoulder
"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child," Rassilon added.
"Oh, he's not saving you. Don't you realise what he's doing?"
"Hey, no, hey! That's mine. Hush!" The Master interjected. "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, Mister President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look as me."
The Lord President holds up his metal gauntlet. It glows and everyone who looks like the Master goes through the head blur thing again, despite his protest. In mere, everyone on Earth is restored to themselves. "On your knees, mankind," he ordered, which they obeyed.
"No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation. I still saved you. Don't forget that," the Master alluded.
"The approach begins."
"Approach of what?"
"Gallifrey, what else?" Arthur hissed as he can see a big burning planet appear close to the Earth, making the entire ground shaking. He remembered Tasha's warning 900 years ago, of what would happen if Gallifrey returned. To see it almost happen on Earth and Trenzalore...
"But, I did this. I get the credit! I'm on your side," the Master added as he's kneeling while everyone else is running in panic.
A technician is hammering on the door of his locked glass booth. "Help me, please. Somebody, please."
"All right! I've got you, mate. I've got you," Wilf assured him as he went into the open booth.
"Wilf, don't. Don't!" the Doctor told him, but he still did it anyway. Arthur realises what's going to happen next.
"I've got you. Come on. Go on."
As the technician walks away and runs, the Master says, "But…this is fantastic, isn't it? The Time Lords restored."
"You weren't there in the final days of the War. 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," the Doctor elaborated. "And that's what you've opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending."
"My kind of world."
"Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can't survive that."
"We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart," Rassilon announced.
"Oh my God," Arthur muttered.
"That's suicide," the Master pointed out.
"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be," Rassilon finished.
"You're out of your mind," Arthur fumed at Rassilon. "Don't you realise what will happen if you do that? You're destroying yourself and the entire universe! You're going to kill more innocent people just for your stupidity!"
"You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them," the Doctor insisted.
The Master, still blind with his faith in Gallifrey, says, "Then…take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory."
"You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more," Rassilon declared, ready to use his gauntlet to kill him…when the gauntlet went off as Arthur's glaring at it, his eyes glowing gold in anger. "You…!"
The Doctor is on his feet, aiming the revolver at Rassilon. "Don't you dare," he warned.
"Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one."
"But he's the President. Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours," the Master implored. The Doctor turns and aims at the Master. "He's to blame, not me!" He went silent. "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."
The Doctor aims at Rassilon again.
"It won't work," Arthur reminded him. Killing Rassilon won't make things any better. There's gonna be another him that will take his place. But he doesn't know what to do. What could he do to stop his father from committing murder?
"The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?" Rassilon dared.
"Don't you dare talk to him like that, you murderer," Arthur snapped.
In anger, Rassilon aims his gauntlet at the brunette. The Doctor's grips the revolver much harder, ready to kill him to protect Arthur from becoming one of the victims of Rassilon's madness…when behind him, the Woman—his mother—lowers her hands and looks at him and the Doctor. She looks sad at them both, then slowly, darting her eyes over the Doctor's shoulder.
The Doctor turns back to face the Master. "Get out of the way," he stated. The Master moves and the Doctor shoots the diamond in its gizmo. The link explodes and the Time Lords are sucked away. "The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell."
"You'll die with me, Doctor, Explorer!"
"No," Arthur whispered as Rassilon aimed his gauntlet at the Doctor. He quickly stands between them, ready to take aim despite the Doctor's protest. The Woman covers her face again and Arthur can see her hands already turned into stone. Beside her, a man briefly reveals his face and Arthur gasps at the resemblance of him with himself and the Doctor before he covers his face again, his fingertips slowly turning into stone as well.
"Get out of the way," the Master remarked. Both the Doctor and Arthur step back and the Master attacks Rassilon with his energy as he walks closer. "You did this to me! All of my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four!"
The energy causes Rassilon to be forced to his knees. The Time Lords and the Master disappear in a bright light and Gallifrey fades away from the sky.
"Here," Arthur murmured as he helped the Doctor stand up. "Slowly. There."
"I'm alive," the Doctor gasps as he's gripping Arthur's arms with joy. "I've…there was…I'm still alive."
Arthur silently cries as the four knocks appear. And again. And again. And the one who did it was—
"They gone, then?" Wilf asked. "Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?"
"Yeah," both Time Lords said.
"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise."
"The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running," Arthur explained. "The radiation…it's gone into overload. Which means…the person inside will die. Addams told me that the glasses are hard to destroy."
"Touch one control and it floods. Even this would set it off," the Doctor grips his sonic screwdriver.
"I'm sorry," Wilf said eventually.
"Sure."
"Look, just leave me."
"Okay, right then, I will. 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."
"Doctor," Arthur sobbed, his mouth trembling. "Don't say that."
"No really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time," Wilf explained.
"Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!" He wept and pushed some stuff on a desk in frustration.
Seeing Arthur crying made the Doctor realise that Arthur knew this was going to happen and let it happen anyway. Anger began to well up inside him. Of course he knew the Doctor would make the choice to let Wilf die or not. Arthur Jonas always knew! And did he ever make any changes? Never! He knew what tragedy would happen and he let tragedy happen anyway. Including now.
All of this is his fault! It's his fault!
But...But both of his hearts could not bear to say that in front of him. Because he knew...Arthur never intended to let people die. He just kept quiet, agreed that he was at fault and wouldn't speak to him. That's what got him into so many arguments with Delaney. And by the time he wants to repair their broken relationship...it's too late.
His selfishness was the cause. And right now, the Doctor is on that verge. He had let his selfish side get the better of him.
It was time for him to change, literally and figuratively.
"I've lived too long," he concluded and walked into the booth.
"No. No, no, please, please don't. No, don't! Please don't! Please!" Wilf pleaded.
"Doctor," Arthur called.
"It's okay," he assured the brunette man with a smile. Funny. He hated him, a long time ago. Now…Now he cares for him, as if he's his son. "Wilfred, it's my honour. Better be quick. Three, two, one."
The Doctor quickly goes into the open booth and unlocks Wilf's side. Wilf runs out and a red light floods the Doctor's booth. Arthur's eyes went wet as he saw his father who cries and yelps in pain, to the point he curls up into a ball, unable to handle the pain.
Then…the power shuts down.
After a few moments, the Doctor gets up.
"Doctor?" Arthur called.
"Hi," he replied, raspy.
"Still with us?" Wilf asked.
"The system's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing's kaput. Oh. Now it opens, yeah."
Arthur quickly opens the door and helps the Doctor come out of the booth. "I got you," he murmured as he stood shakingly at first, before he could manage on his own.
The doctor looked around. His eyes caught sight of a round, gold-coloured object emblazoned with the language of an old Gallifrey. Ood Sigma had somehow managed to get his hands on it, but the doctor knew that it was meant for Delaney.
Unfortunately, the Master had already opened it. The Master knew the secret that Future Arthur had kept for Delaney. Ah, how angry he was. So stupid to let it happen. Ah, but he could not complain. There was work he had to finish.
"Well, there we are, then. Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there," Wilf said, gesturing at his face. The Doctor rubs his face and the cuts vanish, shocking Wilf. 'But they've," he looks at Arthur, who still has injuries but it's slowly healing. "Your face. How did you do that?"
"It's started," the Doctor simply answered, not saying anything as Wilf and Arthur hugged him.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Sylvia and Delaney watch Wilf and the Doctor come out of the Tardis.
"Oh, she's smiling," the Doctor realised. "As if today wasn't bad enough. Anyway, don't go thinking this is goodbye, Wilf. I'll see you again, one more time."
"Doctor!" Delaney called as she approached them. "W-What happened to you?"
Arthur steps out of the Tardis. "Hey, Dela!"
The woman shakes her head. Her eyes darted away in horror. "Artie? What…?"
"Delaney, he's a younger version," the Doctor reminded her, holding the dial in his hand and gave it to her.
Delaney began to breathe slowly. Her eyes occasionally glanced at Arthur, but every time she did, she cast her eyes downwards at the dial, as if she couldn't bear to look at him.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked in confusion. "Did I do something bad?"
"No! Not that! It's just that," Delaney squeezed his hands and the dial together. "I can't explain. Spoiler."
"But—"
"Don't," the Doctor advised, taking Arthur's hand to keep him from asking too many questions. Arthur was starting to get annoyed at what they were keeping secret. But apparently, he would have to wait to find out.
"What do you mean? When's that?" Wilf asked what the Doctor meant before, to distract the conversation.
"Just keep looking. I'll be there."
"Where are you going?"
"To get my reward."
Right after he said that, Arthur disappeared—
▪︎▪︎▪︎
And landed in a snowy field. But unlike before, this one clearly indicates civilization. He can see buildings and light around him.
"Arthur," the Doctor called from behind. As he turns around, he sees the Doctor having a hard time walking, as he's clearly closing to regenerate. Quickly he takes one of his arms, puts it across his back neck, and guides him back into the Tardis.
As they get closer, they both see a not-so-human being standing not far from their location. An Ood, Arthur recalled.
"We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep," he told her.
Arthur slowly hears a choir sing as he helps him. It was sung in Latin and it sounds lovely and sad at the same time. "Vale decem. Ad aeternam. Di meliora. Ad aeternam. Vale decem. Di meliora. Beati. Pacifici."
The Tardis kindly open the door so Arthur and the Doctor can enter. The cloister bell rings loudly as she's crying of going to watch her Thief regenerate.
"Vale decem. Alis grave. Ad perpetuam. Memoriam."
"Send us somewhere safe," Arthur whispered, and the Tardis hummed in agreement as she dematerialised somewhere else.
"Vale decem. Gratis tibi ago. Ad aeternam. Numquam singularis. Numquam. Dum spiro fido. Vale vale vale vale…"
The Doctor slowly releases himself, watching as golden energy streams from his hand. He looks at Arthur, scared. "I don't want to go."
"It's okay," he assured him, gently holding his hand as the regeneration energy was ready to burst out. With one final look at him, the Doctor let the regeneration happen, changing him into another one, causing Arthur to step back and cover his eyes with the bright light that hurt his eyes and make the entire console room turn into fire. The Eleventh Doctor—the Floppy-haired Doctor—who raised him for the last 900 years.
He looks around before looking at his legs. "Legs. I've still got legs," he realised and kissed his left leg. "Good." He looks at his hands, ears, eyes, and nose. "Arms. Hands. Ooo, fingers. Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey." Then, he touches his hair. "Hair. I'm a girl!" He touches Adam's apple. "No. No. I'm not a girl. And still not ginger."
Arthur can't help but laugh at that last statement. "You look terrible as a ginger," he blabbered with laughter, despite the fact that his surroundings are on fire. His situation is basically like that dog meme that had his surroundings on fire but he just says that he's fine.
"OH! Artie! Or Arthur! Arthur!" He gasps. "There's something else. Something important. I'm, I'm, I'm—!" An explosion going on behind them. "Ha! Crashing!"
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" was all Arthur could say as the Tardis just went haywire and his father was just getting frantic. Which, from his experience, isn't a good thing.
"Geronimo!" He yelled before something knocks Arthur's head, making his sight gone black.
Note: I feel like this chapter is so appropriate now that Wild Blue Yonder is out. Just seeing the Doctor & Wilf one last time is such a gift for us fans.
Also, speaking of Wild Blue Yonder, how's everyone feels about that episode? I thought Midnight is creepy. Clearly RTD likes to prove me wrong. I'm still debating if Arthur should be in Wild Blue Yonder or not. We'll see.
Notice that the confessional dial in this chapter? In case anyone pondering, Missy didn't give clarification to Clara & Claudia for her own amusement. Hence, the events that happened in The End of Time isn't 100% accurate.
