What if Susan broke?
She didn't know how long she had been alone. David had passed centuries ago and her children's lives had fluttered by like the wind. She had lived for so long that she was visibly aging, which definitely meant something for a Time Lady.
As Susan walked the wastes of Earth, rarely seeing anyone anymore, the only one she thought of every day was Grandfather. Her constant, remaining thought.
Susan pulled the ragged cloak about herself and walked in oversized boots across the drying mud of whatever country she was in at the moment.
Susan rarely spoke anymore. She'd given up talking to herself a long time ago. On occasion she even found her voice to be hoarse when she finally did speak, often a loud cry when something surprised her.
She wasn't sure why this place was so desolate. How long she had wandered the Earth Susan didn't know.
Now she stood in a large graveyard. The plots were all at least a few centuries old. No-one had been here in ages. Brushing from ivy away from in front of her, Susan looked at what lay in front of her.
Her heart skipped a beat. Falling to her knees, she tried holding back a howl.
The names carved into the stone were still visible.
Barbara Chesterton, 1930 - 2023. Ian Chesterton, 1924 - 2024.
Susan squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears still trickled down.
She knew that a human lifespan would never allowed Ian and Barbara to live for very long, but when you travel in time everyone seems to be frozen at the same age for you. Yet somehow Susan had blocked it out into it was right in front of her.
Pushing herself up, Susan stared down at the plots beneath her. Their bodies would have long rotted, perhaps reclaimed by the Earth.
The Earth her grandfather treasured more than perhaps even their own planet.
Never before had Susan such resentment for the human lifespan.
Ian. Barbara. David.
She clutched her fist and tried to resist crying. But it wasn't enough for Susan.
Looking up at the sky, hearing a loud beeping noise, she saw something fly down towards her. A metal flying box with Gallifreyan writing on top.
A war. There was a war with the Daleks. Every Time Lord across time and space was called home to fight.
I will,Susan told herself.
After all, Susan had nothing left to live for on Earth.