Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? (1/1)

[yamx]

“No.” The Doctor pushes a lever, spins a wheel and slams a button. It’s not over yet. He won’t die today.

*****

Jack moans and wriggles his hips, grinding his back into the customer. He’s glad the burly soldier can’t see his face from behind, because he knows his eyes are cold and distant, his expression blank. He’s learned to fake just enough

Comments

[kae_nine]

*gapes*

This is so well written. Not that I'm surprised, coming from you, but it's like every new story from you is even more gut-punching than the previous one. This one just makes me literally speechless.

*hangs keyboard*

[yamx]

*is speechless too, but from all the praise*

Wow... thank you! *turns pink*

Now get your keyboard back down and write chapter ten!

[sensiblecat]

There are some killer lines in this:
Quietly, so quietly that Jack almost can’t hear him, he whispers “I’m going to die. Soon.” His eyes dare Jack to find a retort to this.

Jack barks a short, bitter laugh. “You lucky son of a bitch.”

It would take something that blunt to get through to the Doctor now. I hope Jack could, though I have my doubts. Until I saw the CiN trailer I could have imagined this happening, but now I have my doubts.

The start of their conversation, when Jack realises the Doctor just didn't notice the 456, was very painful. Well done.

[yamx]

Yes, those lines were positively painful to write. And I had a very hard time breaking their deadlock. I had a feeling, after seeing him say "No," at the end of WoM, that it truly was too late... But this story insisted on being written anyway. Call it a slightly-more-optimistic AU. *g*

Thank you so much for your comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[torn_eledhwen]

Painful but truthful. You really drove home how much like the Master the Doctor is at the end of "WoM". (I saw it, but I'd missed the echoing of "I win"). Nice work.

[yamx]

It was all i could think watching WoM - oh God, he's become the Master1 The Doctor's turned into the Master! The Universe is screwed.

His whole rant about how the laws of time are his etc. also eerily reminded me of the Master's response in SoD when the Doctor accuses him of changing mankind's history, manipulating our timeline: "Yes. I'm a Time Lord, I have that right." *shudder*

Thanks for commenting!

[dark_aegis]

Ouch. Brilliant, yet still ouch (and aww) all wrapped up in the same package. How did you do that?

Lovely work, and thank you so much for sharing. Glad the Doctor's subconscious was working for him (and that Jack realised just what the offer truly was).

[yamx]

Now that Jack is no longer awestruck by the Doctor, but has in many ways become him, he's pretty good at seeing through him. *g*

This confrontation just seemed the natural consequence of CoE and WoM to me - they are both so raw and broken at the end of their respective eps, pitching them against each other just seemed the natural move. They understand each other in a way no one else can.

And yes, subconsciously the Doctor went to look for Jack because he knew, or hoped, that Jack'd be able to stop him. Because deep down, the Doctor still knows what's right and wrong. I hope.

Thanks for commenting!

[quean_of_swords]

Painful, but great. First fic I've seen post WoM with the Doctor finding Jack, which surprises me. I liked this a lot.

[yamx]

It surprised me, too. I almost abandoned the story when I didn't have time to work on it for a few days because I thought there'd be dozens of this kind all over the place - having Jack and the Doctor meet and talk/collide after their respective crises just seemed so obvious to me. But maybe that's just me. (There are many great WoM-aftermath fics out there that resolve the issue in other ways.)