Fic: Wipe Out the Noise
For almost a year now a rough outline of a massive Time War series has been sitting around my hard drive. I have a good deal of doubt it will ever come to anything. But what I had written in its entirety was the very ending. And I think it's postable even on its own. This is set in the same universe as The Web.
The Doctor materialized in to the center of the Eye of Harmony. The TARDIS shuddered and rocked. Somewhere wood was being splintered, and metal tearing as parts of the TARDIS were being torn off. The Doctor could feel it. Feel it happening to him, his cells melting, an opposite of regeneration. He grasped the console and faced the doors.
Trillions of years in the future, a TARDIS materialized on a desolate planet. Around it galaxies were collapsing. Just over the hill a small community of humans lived. The Master turned the watch over and over in his hand. Here in this place and time, the Time War was well over. And whatever had happened, he knew the Doctor was still out there. He knew it like he knew himself. The Master smirked, not for much longer.
He couldn't wait any longer. Another few minutes and he'd be dead before he could even open the doors and make sure the bomb was activated. He pulled the lever. Outside the doors was a swirl of colors more intense than the vortex, a force, a storm of purples, orange, and black. A vacuum pulled the Doctor's grip from the console. he collided with the bomb where it was bolted to the floor just inside the doorway. Several ribs cracked. That was the least of the pain. Without the shield of the TARDIS, the melting of cells was more intense. The console room, too seemed to be bending in on itself, twisting. Every movement made him cry out. The pain...freezing, boiling, needles, stabbing, burning. Bones in his fingers popped with every movement as he activated the bomb. He released the clamps holding it down. The Eye sucked it out of the TARDIS, swallowing it. The Doctor was being sucked out after it.
The Master clicked the watch in its socket on the Chameleon Arch. He placed the mechanism on his head and turned it on. They said it would hurt, but he thought he could handle it. But the searing, the tearing apart of DNA and putting it together was much worse than being burned in fire.
No, it was worse than anything he had ever felt before, more terrible than he had ever seen. If he passed the threshold of the TARDIS doors, he would certainly be killed. And he welcomed it. Better than the pain, better than living with what he had done.
The Master screamed.
The Doctor screamed.
His last thoughts as himself were of the Doctor, Wherever you are, you are not alone.
Death, release was a hand's reach away. He thought he heard the TARDIS start to dematerialize.
Then everything was blackness.
Yana woke up. He had no idea why he was lying in the dirt. He stood up and brushed himself off, smoothing down his waistcoat. He was on a hill, and at the bottom there was some sort of human settlement, and a large transport space ship nearby. Ah yes, that was it. He as on his way to his next refugee camp. There, at his feet was his satchel, filled with little odds and ends he had picked up from his travels. Most of them broken gadgets he'd been meaning to fix someday. He picked the satchel up and started down the slope, not for the first time wishing that bothersome drumming wouldn't follow him.
The Doctor woke up. The pain all gone, everything quiet. For a moment he thought he was dead. But then he realized that was silly, the After Life wouldn't look like the shambles of TARDIS console room, would it? The Doctor stood up and shook his head to clear it. Strange...his clothes seemed to be a bit short on him now, and there was no brush of hair on his face or back of his neck when he shook his head. Events played in his mind in reverse. Oh... He ran up to the console, moving away wires and loose circuits, trying to find the switch for the scanner screen. There was a fireball where Gallifrey should have been. Tinier balls of flame around it were the Emperor Dalek's fleet, all of it that hadn't been on the ground as the invasion force.
It was over. The Doctor won.
The Doctor materialized in to the center of the Eye of Harmony. The TARDIS shuddered and rocked. Somewhere wood was being splintered, and metal tearing as parts of the TARDIS were being torn off. The Doctor could feel it. Feel it happening to him, his cells melting, an opposite of regeneration. He grasped the console and faced the doors.
Trillions of years in the future, a TARDIS materialized on a desolate planet. Around it galaxies were collapsing. Just over the hill a small community of humans lived. The Master turned the watch over and over in his hand. Here in this place and time, the Time War was well over. And whatever had happened, he knew the Doctor was still out there. He knew it like he knew himself. The Master smirked, not for much longer.
He couldn't wait any longer. Another few minutes and he'd be dead before he could even open the doors and make sure the bomb was activated. He pulled the lever. Outside the doors was a swirl of colors more intense than the vortex, a force, a storm of purples, orange, and black. A vacuum pulled the Doctor's grip from the console. he collided with the bomb where it was bolted to the floor just inside the doorway. Several ribs cracked. That was the least of the pain. Without the shield of the TARDIS, the melting of cells was more intense. The console room, too seemed to be bending in on itself, twisting. Every movement made him cry out. The pain...freezing, boiling, needles, stabbing, burning. Bones in his fingers popped with every movement as he activated the bomb. He released the clamps holding it down. The Eye sucked it out of the TARDIS, swallowing it. The Doctor was being sucked out after it.
The Master clicked the watch in its socket on the Chameleon Arch. He placed the mechanism on his head and turned it on. They said it would hurt, but he thought he could handle it. But the searing, the tearing apart of DNA and putting it together was much worse than being burned in fire.
No, it was worse than anything he had ever felt before, more terrible than he had ever seen. If he passed the threshold of the TARDIS doors, he would certainly be killed. And he welcomed it. Better than the pain, better than living with what he had done.
The Master screamed.
The Doctor screamed.
His last thoughts as himself were of the Doctor, Wherever you are, you are not alone.
Death, release was a hand's reach away. He thought he heard the TARDIS start to dematerialize.
Then everything was blackness.
Yana woke up. He had no idea why he was lying in the dirt. He stood up and brushed himself off, smoothing down his waistcoat. He was on a hill, and at the bottom there was some sort of human settlement, and a large transport space ship nearby. Ah yes, that was it. He as on his way to his next refugee camp. There, at his feet was his satchel, filled with little odds and ends he had picked up from his travels. Most of them broken gadgets he'd been meaning to fix someday. He picked the satchel up and started down the slope, not for the first time wishing that bothersome drumming wouldn't follow him.
The Doctor woke up. The pain all gone, everything quiet. For a moment he thought he was dead. But then he realized that was silly, the After Life wouldn't look like the shambles of TARDIS console room, would it? The Doctor stood up and shook his head to clear it. Strange...his clothes seemed to be a bit short on him now, and there was no brush of hair on his face or back of his neck when he shook his head. Events played in his mind in reverse. Oh... He ran up to the console, moving away wires and loose circuits, trying to find the switch for the scanner screen. There was a fireball where Gallifrey should have been. Tinier balls of flame around it were the Emperor Dalek's fleet, all of it that hadn't been on the ground as the invasion force.
It was over. The Doctor won.