A/N: Hope you're ready for what comes next.
I don't own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC and this story. Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Please enjoy!
END OF THE LINE
"Our memories, well, they can be inviting.
But some are altogether mighty frightening.
As we die, both you and I,
With my head in my hands, I sit and cry."
– No Doubt: 'Don't Speak' (Tragic Kingdom [1995]).
Workshop
Back at the workshop, Docherty opens up a high voltage box, revealing an Archangel communications device. She had a very reluctant look on her face, and it was obvious that she didn't want to dob in Martha when there was a chance that she could save them all. But at the same time, Docherty had a personal situation that took precedence over Martha Jones.
"Access Priority One." Docherty states firmly. "This is Professor Alison Docherty."
"State your intent." The computer responded.
"First of all, I need to know about my son." Docherty pleaded.
"State your intent." The computer repeated the request. Docherty frowned and gritted her teeth, trying to hold back her impatience in her desperate desire to find out more about her son.
"Is my son still alive?" She demanded, urgently.
"State your intent." The computer insisted, and Docherty sighed before cooperating and revealing the information she had gleaned from the mouth of Martha Jones herself.
"I have some information for the Master concerning Martha Jones." She reluctantly reveals.
Flight deck
The Doctor was trying and failing to sleep inside his birdcage when the Master, wearing a silk dressing gown over his pajamas, suddenly bursts in, dragging a half-asleep and thoroughly annoyed Heart, wearing a fluffy white cotton dressing gown over her own pajamas, with him by the wrist. The Doctor immediately sits up, grabbing at the bars of the cage in both his tiny hands. The Master sneers down at him and his sister with triumphant glee on his face.
"Guess what." He states to them both, and the Heart immediately stops resisting and exchanges a worried look with the Doctor.
Whatever it was that had the Master in such a good mood, was not a good thing at all.
Slave Quarters
Martha takes a seat on the stairs on the slave quarters, surrounded by the surviving humans; rapt and eagerly anticipating what the young woman had to say.
"I travelled across the world, from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went, I saw people just like you, living as slaves. But if Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor."
Martha pauses, smiling and mentally picturing the face of the Time Lord that she had once harboured a crush on which turned into a sibling-like love, while the humans waited impatiently for her to continue with her story.
"He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him. I love him. And I know what he can do." Martha stated with a loyal determination. Suddenly, a woman who had been keeping watch by looking through the letterbox flap, sounds the alarm.
"It's him! It's him! Oh, my God, it's him! It's the Master. He's here!" She shrieked in fear.
"But he never comes to Earth," the same teenage boy who had confronted Martha earlier, comments. "He never walks upon the ground." He frowned with confusion.
The woman immediately points towards Martha.
"Hide her!"
"Use this!" Tom whispers and passes over an old sack, which the humans immediately throw over Martha, who huddles fearfully on the staircase, protected by the humans. Tom takes the woman's place and peers through the letterbox, seeing the Master who is accompanied by armed guards and spheres. Tom readies his gun.
"He walks among us, our lord and master…" the teenage boy laments, earning 'shhs' all around him.
Outside the Slave Quarters
The Master strolls along the road in front of the slave quarters as though he were taking a midnight stroll in the moonlight, instead of attempting to take one of the Doctor's companions into custody and make an example of her for the rest of the world to see.
"Martha. Martha Jones. I can see you!" He calls out in a sing-song voice. "Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your master." Nothing happens, the Master frowns a little. "Anybody? Nobody?" Still no response. "No? Nothing?" He lets out an exaggerated sigh and turns towards the armed guards he had brought along with him. "Positions!" The guards take aim at the slave quarters, waiting for the Master to give the order to fire. "I'll give the order unless you surrender." The Master taunts Martha who realises that she needed to reveal herself in order for the Doctor's plan to work. "Ask yourself. What would the Doctor do?"
Martha slowly takes off the Tardis key and heads down the staircase towards the front door, much to the objections of all the humans trying to protect her. She touches Tom on the shoulder and pushes down the gun in his hand, gently shaking her head to indicate for him to stand down. She finally goes outside, and the Master instantly turns towards her.
"Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girl!" the Master falsely praises a nervous, but defiant Martha who stares back at him with a blank expression on her face. "He trained you well." Then he clicks his fingers at her. "Bag. Give me the bag." Martha shrugs off the backpack from her shoulder and goes to walk towards the Master. However, he immediately stops her. "No, stay there. Just throw it."
Martha rolls her eyes and throws the backpack towards the Master. It lands a short distance away from him, and the Master promptly fires his laser screwdriver at it, destroying the bag and the contents within.
"And now, good companion, your work is done." The Master sneers unpleasantly at Martha who continues to stare at him defiantly, even when the Time Lord aims his screwdriver at her. Tom runs out of the house she had just come from.
"NO!" He shouted out of protest and is immediately killed when the Master fires his screwdriver at him instead. Martha winces at the needless death and glowers at the Master in anguish as he laughs darkly.
"But you," He indicates to Martha. "When you die, the Doctor and the Heart should be witness, hmm?" He looks over at the horizon, at the rapidly pinkening and yellowing skyline. "Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war." The guards surround Martha and lead her away, with the Master following them, whistling a jaunty tone.
Flight deck
The Master steps out confidently to his usual spot, surrounded by cameras. He was flanked by Lucy, still dressed in her red evening gown and sporting a few new bruises, and the Heart, whom the Master had 'suggested' that she wear something semi-formal too. So, reluctantly, the Heart wore a strapless navy-blue dress with a flouncy cream puff-style skirt and matching navy-blue peep toe platforms with a rhinestone buckle. She looked extremely uncomfortable, considering what was going to be happening in a few moments to her friend.
"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe!" the Master's voice rings out over the tannoy.
Martha's family, Jack, and the Heart watch with wide eyes as Martha is brought in by guards. Martha chances a split-second look at the Doctor who beams proudly at her for her efforts. She is placed in front of the Master who sneers down at her.
"Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten." The Master requests and Martha throws him the vortex manipulator, which he catches without looking. "And now, kneel." Martha does so silently. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?" the Master speaks into a nearby microphone that had direct connection to the fleet below.
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!" A man responded, eagerly.
"Three minutes to align the black hole converters." The Master stated. "Counting down." The timer begins to countdown on the wall beside them all. "I never could resist a ticking clock." The Master chuckles. "My children, are you ready?" the Master speaks into another microphone that projects his voice to the millions of spheres in orbit and waiting for their orders.
"We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice!" the spheres chanted excitedly.
"At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die." The Master reveals and the Heart flinches, not noticing the sly expressions on both the Doctor and Martha's faces. "My first blood. Any last words?" He asks Martha who continues looking at him without saying anything. "No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex…" He indicates towards the Heart who looked surprised at her brother's knowledge of that particular event. "This one's useless. Bow your head." Martha does so obediently. "And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward—" Martha laughs quietly to herself, cutting off the Master, who blinks at her in annoyance. "What? What's so funny?" He asks her, suspiciously.
"A gun." Martha pointed out, looking at the Master like he was an idiot.
"What about it?" the Master insisted.
"A gun in four parts?" Martha continued, sounding incredulous.
The Master rolled his eyes.
"Yes, and I destroyed it." This time it wasn't just the Master who looked confused about what Martha was saying. The Heart, Jack and Martha's family were wondering where she was going with this.
"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?" Martha sneered.
"What do you mean?" the Master faltered a little.
The Doctor grinned at him from within his cage.
"As if I would ask her to kill…" the Doctor stated triumphantly.
The Heart slowly allowed herself to hope, and a tentative smile spread across her face when she sensed the triumphant emotions coming from her friend and her tether. The Master attempted to regain his composure.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her." The Master insisted, but the Heart stepped forward, a newfound confidence rising in her.
"I think not, brother." The Master looked over at her in askance. "I believe Martha here has been playing you like fiddle the whole entire time." The Heart realised, with relief.
"Exactly!" Martha grinned at the Heart. "I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son." She explained. "I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."
"Oh, but you're still going to die." The Master insisted.
"Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?" Martha baited him.
"Tell me."
"I told a story, that's all." Martha replied with a little smile. "No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
"Faith and hope?" the Master looked unimpressed. "Is that all?"
"No," Martha said. "Because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." She stands up causing the Master to take an uncertain step away from her, worried about what she was going to do. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time—"
"Nothing will happen!" the Master interrupted out of irritation and impatience. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?" He sneered, but Martha patiently continued, knowing something good was going to come next.
"Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites." Martha stated, and the Master froze and looks at her with horror.
"What?"
"The Archangel Network." Jack pipes up, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, you are brilliant!" The Heart sends the Doctor a beaming smile, earning a wink and a warm smile back from the imprisoned man in the birdcage.
"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is: Doctor."
The countdown reaches zero and at the same moment, the Doctor; cage and all, starts to glow a heavenly blue colour and starts growing.
"Stop it!" the Master starts to panic, realising that his plans had been foiled once again. "No, no, no, no, you don't!"
"Doctor. Doctor." Jack chanted silently.
"Doctor." Francine whispered with hope.
"Don't!" the Master was now practically begging everyone, but they were all ignoring him, and the Doctor continues to change. On the TV monitor, crowds of people were chanting Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! "Stop this right now! Stop it!" The Master raged.
"Doctor." Lucy was also whispering with tears streaming down her face.
"Doctor." Jack spoke again for good measure.
"Doctor." The Heart called out proudly.
"Doctor." Martha spoke out defiantly with a sigh of relief that her task was finally accomplished.
The crowds of people all around the world continued chanting Doctor. By now the Doctor has returned to his previous centenarian form. He focuses solemnly on the Master who looks back at him fearfully.
"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices." The Doctor tells the Master.
"I order you to stop!" the Master growls.
"The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking." The Doctor ignores the Master's angry plea as he returns to his normal appearance, looking like an average male in his mid-30s. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this." He continues as Martha turns and runs over to her family and is swallowed up by them in a group hug.
"No!" the Master fires his laser screwdriver at the Doctor, but the energy field that had formed around him doesn't let the deadly beam through.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" the Doctor looks at the Master with pity. He doesn't like that and immediately turns towards Martha and her family, who cringe away in fear when they see what he's about to do.
"Then I'll kill them!" But the Doctor reaches out a hand and the screwdriver flies from the Master's hand, rendering him powerless.
The Heart could sense how scared her brother was feeling and had mixed emotions about it: on the one hand, the Master was her brother, and she didn't like to see him in pain, even if he had done the wrong thing. But at the same time, he had done horrible things for an entire year, and the Doctor wasn't a malicious person so she doubted he was likely to inflict harm on him in retaliation. So she decided to just wait and see what the Doctor had instore for him.
"You can't do this. You can't do it. It's not fair!" the Master yelled, sounding almost pitiful.
"And you know what happens now..." The Doctor tells him, and the Master's eyes widen in horrified realisation.
"No! No! No! No!" He immediately starts backing away from the Doctor who begins to float over to him.
"You wouldn't listen…"
"NO!"
"Because you know what I'm going to say…" the Doctor lands on the floor in front of the Master who curls into a ball in the corner, cowering away from him.
"No…" He whimpers as the Doctor puts his arms around him and holds him close.
"I forgive you." The Doctor tells him, sincerely. The Master cries out in anguish.
"My children!"
The spheres, sensing danger, begin to descend from the sky.
"Protect the paradox. Protect the paradox." They chanted.
"Captain, the Paradox machine!" The Doctor shouts at him, standing up and moving away from the Master while the Heart runs down the staircase nearest the Doctor and the Master to the ground floor.
"On it!" Jack nodded immediately, before turning to some nearby guards. "You men, with me!" He and the guards take off through the sliding doors and down the corridor towards where the Tardis was being kept. The Master stealthily creeps up behind his sister while the Doctor was momentarily distracted and wraps an arm around a startled Heart's waist.
"What the hell are you doing?" The Heart demanded, as the Doctor turns towards the commotion and sees the Master about to activate the manipulator whilst holding the Heart in his arms.
"No!" the Doctor protested loudly and makes a grab for the manipulator also as they bounce.
Quarry
The Doctor, the Heart and the Master materialise in the middle of a quarry with a view of rockets that were locked, loaded and ready to be launched into space. The Heart instantly shoves her brother away out of annoyance. But the Master barely acknowledges this, instead aiming a half-insane grin at his sister and the Doctor.
"Now it ends. Now it ends." He declares. There was suddenly a roll of thunder, and war sirens sound in the shipyard, indicating for everyone to take cover where they could.
"We've got control of the Valiant. You can't launch." The Doctor pointed out. However, the Master merely laughs in the Doctor's face, holding up a small remote in his hand.
"Oh, but I've got this. Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you or my darling little sister." He indicates towards a horrified Heart. "The three of us will stand upon this Earth together, as it burns."
Valiant
Jack and the guards he had recruited to help take down the paradox machine hidden within the Tardis, run towards its location only to find that three spheres were 'standing' guard in front of the majestic blue sentient ship. Immediately, they start shooting at them while outside the rest of the sphere continue descending towards the Valiant.
"We can't get in. We'd get slaughtered." One of the guards realised, in frustration. However, Jack merely cocks his gun; ready to fire, and shrugs nonchalantly at the bemused man.
"Yeah. Happens to me a lot." He admits before running headlong towards the deadly float spheres. He manages to get inside the Tardis and starts emptying the contents of his machine gun at the paradox machine.
It instantly goes bang.
Quarry
The Doctor and the Heart look all around them with despair. This insanity had been going on long enough, it was now time to act.
"Weapon after weapon after weapon." The Doctor stated with disgust. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I know you." The Doctor pointed out to him.
"We know you." The Heart corrects her tether, going to over to her brother to try and make a final attempt to make him understand and reconsider his destructive actions. "Explode those ships, Koschei, you'll not only kill yourself, but you'll also kill me. Not to sound conceited, but we both know that's the one thing you can never do." The Heart tells him, and the Master frowns; realising that his sister was – infuriatingly – accurate about that.
The Doctor steps forward, his hand outstretched towards the Master, and a look of determination on his face.
"Give that to me." He requested, firmly.
The Master begrudgingly hands over the black hold converter trigger to his rival. The ground suddenly shakes, and the two Time Lords and Time Lady are nearly thrown off their feet. The Master once again grabs a hold of his sister, this time to protect her from the sudden earthquakes, as he and the Doctor struggle with the vortex manipulator.
All three of them disappear together…
Flight deck
… And reappear on the Valiant just as the spheres disappear and the ship starts shaking also. Papers are flying everywhere, and Martha is thrown into the Doctor's arms, while the Heart remains in the Master's protective arms.
"Everyone get down!" the Doctor orders sharply. "Time is reversing!"
The Master and the Heart hang on for dear life to some railings, while the Doctor and Martha huddle nearby on the ground, clasping hands together and laughing together with delight. Francine spots a pistol on the floor, and with a quick calculating glance in the Master's direction, quickly grabs and holds on to it.
The winds of time are creating havoc and panic on the ground, until finally the people, the rockets and the statues of the Master disappear. Calm is immediately restored. Everyone gets up from the floor or lets go of whatever stationary object they were clinging to for safety; all looking around in a bewilderment, except for the three aliens who knew very well what had just happened.
"The paradox is broken." The Heart sighed with relief, while the Master steps away from his sister and attempts to quietly sneak away without her or the Doctor noticing.
"We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." The Doctor explains to the bewildered humans.
"This is UNIT Central." A confused, unfamiliar male's voice radios in. "What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated."
"Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was." The Doctor confirmed.
"What about the spheres?" Martha steps forward to the Doctor and the Heart, with a bemused frown.
"Trapped at the end of the universe." The Heart replied succinctly.
"But I can remember it." Francine looked equally disturbed.
"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know." The Doctor confirms to Francine before spotting Clive standing right behind her, looking dishevelled. A bright smile spreads across his face. "Oh, hello! You must be Mister Jones. We haven't actually met—" The Doctor rushes over and shakes Clive's hand.
"Doctor, sweetie!" the Heart calls out, with fond exasperation. "Not the right time, love." She reminds him and the Doctor immediately backs off, a little sheepish.
The Master runs for the door just as Jack comes in. He immediately snags the rogue Time Lord before he could escape.
"Woah, big fella!" Jack exclaimed enthusiastically. The Master makes an annoyed face as Jack pulls his arms behind his back and leads him back into the flight deck. "You don't want to miss the party." He holds out his hand to one of the guards. "Cuffs." The guards hands Jack a set of police standard handcuffs and attaches them to the Master's wrists. "So, what do we do with this one?" He questioned, all business again.
"We kill him." Clive immediately suggested.
"We execute him." Tish agrees with her father, and the Heart immediately frowns and protests.
"No!"
"That's not the solution." The Doctor seconded the Heart's objection.
Francine raises the gun she had picked up when time was reversing itself. A hateful expression crosses her face as she aims it at the Master who looks bored now that his plans had failed.
"Oh, I think so." She disagreed with the Doctor and the Heart. "Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."
The Master smirks at her.
"Go on. Do it." He taunts her.
"Master!" the Heart scolds him, sharply. The Doctor calmly goes over to Francine to talk her down from her plan.
"Francine," She refused to look him in the eye, still focused upon a sneering Master with loathing. "You're better than him." He reminds her, and slowly, Francine lowers the gun and the Doctor hugs her, before handing her off to Martha.
"You still haven't answered the question." The Master reminds his rival and by extension his twin sister. "What happens to me?"
"You're our responsibility now." The Doctor responded, indicating between the Heart and himself. The Master looked surprised at his answer.
"Yeah, but you can't trust him." Jack reminded him, frowning mistrustfully.
"He's still my brother, even if he has behaved abysmally. And if the Doctor cannot trust him, he can trust me." The Heart retorted, a little defensively.
"You mean you're just going to keep me?" the Master looked mildly tempted at the thought of being reunited with his sister and going on adventures with her in the Tardis. But at the same time, it also meant being stuck in the Tardis and going on adventures with the Doctor. And that thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"If that's what we have to do." The Doctor nodded vehemently. The Heart suddenly stiffens, sensing someone's murderous intentions, and looks around the room for the culprit. Her eyes widen in horror when she sees.
"NO!"
She throws herself in front of the Master, using herself as a human shield as Lucy shoots at the Master. She staggers from the impact of the bullet then drops like a marionette with its strings cut, just barely avoiding hitting the ground when the Doctor spins round and catches her, lowering her bleeding body to the ground.
"NO! HEART, NO!" screams the Master, hysterically. The Doctor also looks devastated but knows that his tether has the ability to regenerate, so is a little more composed than her brother. "UNCUFF ME!" the Master snarls at a nearby guard, who hesitates to comply. The Master whirls on him, enraged and grief-stricken. "I SAID UNCUFF ME, DAMNIT!" He orders, and the Doctor intervenes.
"Just do what he says!" the Doctor urges, before looking down tenderly at the mortally wounded Time Lady in his arms. "I've got you. I've got you." He promises as the guard finally steps forward and uncuffs the Master, who immediately drops to the ground beside his dying sister and practically snatches her from his rival's arms and cradles her to him.
Jack goes over to Lucy and speaks calmly to her.
"Put it down." He refers to the gun in Lucy's hand. She lets go without any protest, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Why?" the Master demanded tearfully. "Why did you do it, huh?"
The Heart smiles lazily up at her brother, her strength waning with every second that passes by.
"Like I said earlier: 'you're still my brother' and I love you, even if you had been behaving like a dickhead for the past year." The Heart slurred, chuckling softly then coughs harshly as blood dribbles out the corners of her mouth, alarming both the Doctor and the Master.
"No, no! Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate." The Master begs his sister who looks at him like he was an idiot.
"Relax, you two." She chides them both. "All in good time. Like you said Doctor: "…it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with—"" The Heart doubles over in pain, as the Doctor smiles down at her in fond remembrance of what he had told herself and Rose when he was about to regenerate into his current body. When she relaxes a little after the sharp burst of pain, she suddenly looks regretful. "Thing is though. Rose, Jackie and Mickey are never going to see this face again. How sad is that?" She mumbles, earning a look of anguish from the Doctor and a look of confusion from the Master.
"What are you talking about? Who is Rose and Jackie and Mickey?" He demanded.
The Heart just smiles nostalgically.
"Rose was my sister when I was still Katy Tyler, and Jackie was my adoptive mother, and Mickey was my best friend. We lost them." The Master frowns jealously as she starts to sob uncontrollably. "I miss them so much…" The Doctor reaches over and grabs her hand, squeezing it tightly, sharing her pain. A golden glow catches their attention, and the Heart raises her hand that was clasped in the Doctor's, revealing the start of the regeneration process. "One journey ends, another one begins…" The Heart quotes before looking at the two most important men in her existence. "See you on the other side!"
The same golden light bursts out of the Heart's body, consuming her entire body. All the humans in the room shield their eyes; stunned by the unusual phenomenon occurring right in front of them. Both the Doctor and the Master rapidly step away from her body, both on tenterhooks. When the golden light fades abruptly, in place of the previously young, brunette-haired girl in her early 20s, was a beautiful statuesque blonde with an hourglass figure, a tiny waist and large hips, who looked like she was in her approximate mid-to-late 20s.
"Wow…" Jack couldn't help but lament, earning narrowed eyes from both the Doctor and the Master.
The young woman lying on the ground, suddenly snaps open her eyes, which were a dark brown almost black hue, and abruptly sits up and looks around at the stunned faces.
"What?" She blurts out in a Cornish accent. "Is there something on my face?" Both the Doctor and the Master help the Heart to her feet, and the latter immediately smothers his newly regenerated sister into a tight hug.
She lets out a surprised 'ooh' when he does this.
"Oh, thank God you're alright!" the Master exclaimed in relief. The Heart gives an awkward smile and pats him on the back.
"Of course I'm alright, Koschei. It's not my first rodeo, you know." She reminds him, before stepping away from him and turning to face the Doctor who looked dumbfounded by her new appearance. "Hello. Doctor, are you okay?" The Heart questions her tether, tentatively.
He appears to snap out of his state and also pulls her into a rib-crushing hug, as well as a hard, almost possessive kiss, as though punishing her for deliberately putting herself in harm's way and putting him through that amount of stress. However, nobody is able to completely register what had just happened as there is a second gunfire shot and this time the Master was the victim.
"Master, NO!" A surprisingly strong Heart pulls out of the Doctor's embrace and manages to catch her brother as he staggers backwards. Now the roles were reversed. This time, the newly regenerated Heart was sobbing over the dying body of her twin brother, who looked irritated. Both she and the Doctor look around for the culprit. "Who did this?!" The Heart demanded, and both zero in on Clive who was standing defiantly with his family; the same gun Francine had scooped up, clenched in his hand.
"Dad!?" Martha was appalled. But Clive looked unrepentant, even as the guards surrounded and handcuffed him after removing the gun.
"I'm sorry, Martha. But that bastard still needs to be held accountable for what he had done." Clive explained stubbornly.
"But he was defenceless!" the Doctor growled, obviously annoyed that his warning words to Francine had not penetrated Clive's head nor had he taken on board what had happened when the Heart had been shot. He returns his attention back on the Master who was cradled in his sister's arms.
"Dying in my sister's arms. Happy now?" the Master sneers unpleasantly at the Doctor as the Heart glowers down at him for the comment.
"You're not dying, you idiot. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate, like I did." She urges him.
However, the Master shakes his head.
"No."
"What? What do you mean 'no'?" the Heart demanded, worriedly.
"It's just one little bullet." The Doctor agreed. "Come on."
"I guess you don't know me so well." The Master realised with obvious glee. "I refuse."
"But, Koschei…" the Heart murmurs at her brother, who looks up at her with sadness. "I only just got you back. Please, don't leave me…" She pleaded wetly.
"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate." The Doctor repeats the words of desperation the Master had pleaded to the Heart only moments before when she was dying of her gunshot wound.
"I'm sorry, darling." The Master consoles his sister, regretfully, ignoring the Doctor for the moment to focus on her. "But I'd rather die than spend the rest of my lives imprisoned with him." He indicates scornfully at the Doctor, who looked hurt.
But the Doctor could be a stubborn man if he wanted to be.
"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this." Tears were threatening in the Doctor's eyes. "You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're the only three left. There's no one else." The Master just looked at him blankly. "Regenerate!" the Doctor shouts at him desperately.
"How about that." The Master looked genuinely amused, confusing his sister and the Doctor. "I win!" The Doctor and the Heart look horrified. "Will it stop? The drumming. Will it stop?"
The Master then stops breathing and goes limp in the Heart's arms.
"Koschei! NO! Come back! COME BACK!" the Heart wails burying her head into her brother's chest and sobbing uncontrollably.
"NO!" The Doctor also cries out in pain and despair, before both members of the extinct Time Lord race weep over their fallen kinsman.
Field
At nightfall, the Doctor and the Heart work alone together to construct a funeral pyre for the Master for a private send off, with the Doctor doing most of the work since the Heart was still weakened from her recent regeneration. Solemnly, the Doctor uses a flaming torch to set alight the pyre before stepping back and standing reverently beside his tether. There was silence for a few minutes before the Heart begins to quietly sing:
"Dark the stars and dark the moon…"
The Doctor looks at her in surprise that she was singing a traditional Gallifreyan funeral hymn. But doesn't say a word. Just stands there silently and listens to the song as he watches the Master's body burn.
"Hush the night and the morning loon.
Tell the horse and beat on your drum.
Gone their master, gone their son.
Dark the oceans, dark the sky.
Hush the whales and the ocean tide.
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum.
Gone their master, gone their son.
Dark to light and light to dark.
Three black carriages, three white carts.
What brings us together is what pulls us apart.
Gone our brother, gone our home.
Hush the whales and the ocean tide.
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum.
Gone their master, gone their son."
When the hymn was sung, the Doctor wordlessly wraps an arm around the Heart's shoulder and leads her away from the still burning funeral pyre.
Roald Dahl Plass
The Doctor, Martha and Jack stood leaning against a metal handrail, with the Wales Millenium Centre behind them in the background. The Heart was noticeably absent, partially because she was still recovering from her regeneration (which never had a time limit of finishing), and because she was still grieving for the Master. Martha sighed despondently as she people watched.
"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you." She remarked to the Doctor who didn't look concerned about this.
"Good."
"Back to work!" Jack agreed and pushed off from the metal handrailing.
The Doctor looked at him sadly.
"I really don't mind, though." He tells Jack who looks at him questioningly. "Come with me." Jack grinned at the Doctor, but slowly shook his head.
"I had plenty of time to think about that past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about that time of mine." Jack explained to the Doctor who nodded in understanding. "Like you said, Doctor, responsibility."
"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that." The Doctor sighed lightly before reaching over and snagging Jack's wrist to expose the vortex manipulator. He pulls out his sonic and starts tinkering away on it.
Jack balks in protest.
"Hey, I need that!" He complained, but the Doctor looks at him, sternly.
"I can't have you walking around with a time traveling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologise." He puts the sonic away in the inner pocket of his brown trench coat.
"And what about me?" the Doctor looks at him questioningly. "Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?" Jack asked, looking a little hopeful. But the Doctor shook his head, looking regretful.
"Nothing I can do." He admits, apologetically. "You're an impossible thing, Jack."
"Been called that before." Jack jokingly brushes off the comment before straightening up into a salute. "Sir. Ma'am." The Doctor gives him a mock salute back, and Martha just casually waves at him with a small smile. "But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?" Jack looked slightly worried.
"I really don't know." The Doctor admitted, truthfully.
"Okay, vanity." Jack looks a little sheepish. "Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me." The Doctor and Martha looked impressed. "The Face of Boe, they called me." Then they looked stunned. Jack smirks at them knowingly. "I'll see you."
Jack abruptly turns and heads off towards Torchwood's secret entrance.
"No..." the Doctor mumbled out of shock.
"It can't be…" Martha whispers.
"No. Definitely not. No. No." the Doctor decided. Then Martha does a double take in the direction of Jack's shrinking figure off in the distance.
"Hold on. Is that…?" She trails off and the Doctor turns and sees what had caught Martha's eye.
A young blonde woman wearing an unusual set of clothing…
Outside the Torchwood secret entrance
Jack had just about made it to the secret entrance to Torchwood when an unexpected voice suddenly calls out to him.
"Oi, soldier!" He spins around, a hand instinctively going for the alien gun he had concealed on his person, only to relax and grin flirtatiously at the person walking casually towards him. "Thought you could leave without saying goodbye?" The young woman chides him, teasingly.
Jack gave a belly laugh before striding over to her, but not before noticing that underneath her witty attitude and jovial manner, there was a noticeable pain reflected in her brown eyes. It was something that Jack did not like seeing on his friend and hoped that the Doctor would be able to help her.
"Now, Heart. Would I do that to you?" He condescended back at her, before scooping her up into a goodbye hug. But then he puts her back down and steps away from her to take in what she was wearing. "By the way, interesting choice in fashion. Is this a common thing with you Time Lords?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.
The Heart was now currently wearing a black crop top with some rainbow prism trouser pants with multiple pockets. On her feet were a pair of white platform converse sneakers with rainbow shoelaces, and she wore an eyewatering shade of fluoro orange nail varnish on her fingernails.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" the Heart looked genuinely concerned that she had chosen the wrong ensemble. But Jack let out more warm laughter.
"Nothing's wrong. You look awesome." He complements her and the Heart gave a cheerful grin.
"Well, I better get going. The Doctor gets really impatient when he's kept waiting." The Heart stated, then frowned. "I really oughta know that by now, considering how long I've been travelling with him…" She mumbled underneath her breath. Jack pulls her in one more time for a hug and the Heart chose that moment to whisper something into his ear. "And for what it's worth … I'm truly sorry for what I've done to you, Jack. If it's any consolation." Jack looks at her in surprise before realising that she must've overheard that particular conversation on the computer back in Professor Yana's laboratory.
He gives her an indulgent smile.
"Nah, don't worry about it. It's not your fault. Shit happens." Jack waved a dismissive hand at her. The Heart sagged with relief before leaning in and planting a quick, chaste kiss on a pleasantly surprised Jack's lips.
"Just returning the favour from the Game Station." She winked at him. "Laters!"
The Heart then quickly turned and jogged back in the direction of the Tardis as Jack grinned and shook his head in amusement before turning and heading inside the secret entrance.
Tardis
The Doctor and Martha had retreated into the Tardis, waiting for the Heart to return from saying her goodbyes with Jack. What they didn't expect was the 'young' blonde woman who practically bounced her way inside the Tardis and greeted both of them with a cheerful grin, wearing bright colourful clothing.
"Hiya!" the Heart exclaimed, as she turned and shut the Tardis doors firmly behind her. "Ready to go then?" She questioned them both as she strode with a purpose up the metal gangplank towards the console, she was amused by the expressions on Martha and her tether's faces.
"Yeah, just about." The Doctor recovered first and started flicking switching and pulling levers. "We were just waiting for you to arrive."
"Perfect!" The Heart beamed at him. "So what's our destination?"
"My mum's house." Martha confirmed, with a small smile. "I want to check up on them and see how they're coping with everything that has happened to them." She stated and the Heart's bubbly expression turned solemn and she nodded in agreement.
"Of course. It's understandable." She goes over and places a comforting hand on Martha's shoulder.
The Doctor directs the Tardis into the Time Vortex.
Outside Francine's house
The Doctor and the Heart watch Francine, Martha, Clive and Tish inside the house from across the street where the Tardis was parked. Francine pauses next to the window and looks outside of it towards the Time Couple with a blank expression on her face.
The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement, while the Heart simply smiles and raises a hand in greeting. Both were expecting the usual cold shoulder from the woman, but were pleasantly surprised when Francine instead, gives them both a small smile before moving away from the window to rejoin her family.
They retreat back inside the Tardis to wait for Martha.
Tardis
It was a rather quiet moment inside the Tardis for the couple, as the Doctor fiddled absently with the controls to keep himself occupied, while the Heart sat on the jump seat with her legs crossed Indian-style and stared off into space. Eventually, the Doctor broke the silence to address something that had been bugging him since the Master had been cremated.
"Are you okay, darling?" He asks the Heart with his back to her. She shifts her gaze from the concaved walls of the Tardis she had been absently staring at to focus on the Doctor.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that question, love?" the Heart countered his question with her own, a miserable smile on her face. "I mean, you were the one my brother tortured during that year that never was. It can't have been healthy for your sanity." She observed and the Doctor snorted.
"Believe me, I've experienced worse. I'll live." He turns around to face her and gives her a stony, serious look. "But don't play me for a fool, my love. You know exactly what I was referring to." The Heart immediately shuts down. "He was your brother—"
"I'm well aware he was my brother, Doctor." The Heart responds coldly. "But that doesn't excuse the fact that he slaughtered millions." She sighed heavily. "I should've tried harder to stop him. He was my responsibility."
"Now stop that!" the Doctor admonished her, sharply. "The Master was just as much my responsibility as yours. The fact that my body had been substantially aged was no excuse. If I had really wanted to, I would've found a way to stop him."
"But it was all for nothing in the end. He still died despite my sacrifice to save him." The Heart lowered her head and stared down at her lap. The Doctor pushed away from the console and tilted her head back up to look him in the eye.
"There wasn't anything we could've done in the end. He made his own decision, and we've just got to accept it and move on. At least we've still got each other." He reminded her and the Heart responded with a tentative smile.
"Yeah, a couple of lost, dysfunctional children of Gallifrey; survivors of a pointless 400-year war. God help the universe…" She muttered wryly.
They both jerked their heads towards the Tardis doors when they squeaked open, admitting a solemn-faced Martha who walked slowly towards them. The Heart immediately frowned, sensing Martha's feelings of remorse, regret and resignation, and realised that she was not going to be making this trip with them.
"Right then!" the Doctor sprang into action, flipping switches and pressing buttons; momentarily oblivious to the awkward atmosphere that hovered heavily around them. "Off we go. The open road. There is a burst of Starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio."
"Doctor…" the Heart chimed in, trying to get him to feel the room.
"Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look?" He rambled on.
"Doctor—"
"Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know! What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant!"
"Doctor!"
"What?" He pauses abruptly at the sharp tone in the Heart's voice and looks at her in slight annoyance until the Heart indicated to Martha with her eyes and a slight tilt of her head in the young woman's direction, and the Doctor finally takes the hint and looks at Martha. He instantly deflates when he sees the regretful expression on his companion's face.
"Okay." He accepted, sadly.
"I just can't." Martha stated.
"Yeah…" the Doctor nodded, and the Heart gave a sympathetic smile to her friend; completely understanding.
"We understand, sweetie." The Heart acknowledged. But Martha felt that she owed them an explanation at least.
"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after." She stated with a determined smile, referring to her parents and her older sister, who were very much haunted and traumatised by what they had experienced upon the Valiant at the hands of the Master. A fact that didn't hesitate to make the Heart wince apologetically about. "They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."
"Of course not. Thank you." The Heart beamed at her proudly.
"Martha Jones, you saved the world." The Doctor was equally as pleased with her. Martha smiled appreciatively at the Time Couple.
"Yes, I did." Then she looked a bit embarrassed. "I spent a lot of time with you both thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good." Martha looks at them with concern. "Are you going to be alright?"
"Always. Yeah." The Doctor smiles warmly at her.
"In time, I will be." The Heart reassures both Martha and the Doctor. The former nodded, accepting the answers.
"Right then. Bye!" Martha turns to leave, but then pauses when she remembers something. "Oh!" She reaches into her pocket and throws her phone to the Heart who was the closest to her, and both the Doctor and the Heart look at it with confusion. "Keep that, because I'm not having you two disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running. Got it?" Martha requested, sternly.
"Got it." The Doctor nodded.
"Absolutely!" the Heart smirked at the authoritative tone in Martha's voice.
"I'll see you two again." Martha promises, before running over to wrap the Heart in a tight hug, before finally leaving.
The Heart leans against the console fiddling with Martha's phone, while the Doctor paces around the console, adjusting the controls to keep them on the right course. She lets out a melancholy sigh.
"I'm gonna miss her." She admits and the Doctor looks up and smiles at her.
"We'll see her again. She promised." Suddenly, they hear the sound of a ship's foghorn, and the bow of a ship smashes through the side of the Tardis, throwing both the Doctor and the Heart to the ground to avoid being crushed by the ship.
"Where the hell did that come from?" the Heart coughed and glowered at the random ship's bow. The Doctor sifts his way through the rubble.
"I must have forgotten to put the Tardis's shields up," the Doctor fretted and takes a brief glance at the massive hole in the side of the Tardis. "Oh, well. There's no harm done. She should repair herself in no time flat."
"Well, that's a relief." the Heart responded, dryly. The Doctor eventually comes across one of the ship's lifebelts and flips it over. He immediately pales when he reads the name of the ship on the lifebelt.
"What?" the Doctor exclaimed with dread. The Heart senses the Doctor's fear and comes over to investigate.
"What is it? What's wrong?" She looks down at the lifebelt and reads the name Titanic on it. She groans. "Oh, you got to be kidding me…"
A/N: Goodbye for now, Martha Jones. And introducing Lily James as the Heart! I hope you like the face claim I've chosen for her. Please review. TTFN!