The End of the Universe (Doctor Who fanific)

Chapter 9

"So is it still worth it?" Five asked conversationally, all of a sudden, looking up from his seat under the TARDIS console.

"Is what worth it?" Ten asked, next to him.

"The travelling," Five said, gesturing around. "It certainly doesn't look like any of us have stopped."

"Why would we?" Eleven asked. "The whole universe, all of time and space. Why would I ever stop?"

"You're lying," Seven said. "I can always tell, especially when it's me."

"Oh, we don't want to get into the habit of lying to ourselves, do we?" Four asked. Twelve and Six rolled their eyes at each other, seemingly annoyed with the introspective mood this conversation had taken, and started looking over the console again.

Eleven sighed, "I don't know if it's lying. More...stretching the truth. Is the travelling still wonderful? Yes, of course it is. The universe is still there, all those planets, and people, and it's never, ever the same. I've never wanted to give that up."

"But," Ten took up the story. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go, anymore. I have to travel. There's nowhere left."

"There's Earth," Eight said. "Assuming it hasn't been destroyed, that is, sometime after me."

"Oh, no, Earth's still there," Ten continued. "Still petty and amazing all at once, going strong. But it's...different, being the Last."

"You're very hung up on that, aren't you?" Six asked abruptly, looking up from the console.

Ten looked back at him in astonishment, "Am I hung up on being the last of my species? Yes, obviously, I am."

Twelve groaned, "I'd forgotten how much time I spent whinging about it when I was you."

"You mean you've completely, what, got over it?" Ten asked, standing up and staring right at Twelve.

"Well, I don't spend all my time crying about it, if that's what you mean," Twelve said.

"This is what you turn into?" Ten asked Eleven, as if it was his fault.

"Hey, I don't get to pick what I regenerate into. Neither did you," Eleven shot back.

"All right, all right," One said, stepping in between them. "We still have the little problem of the end of the universe."

"Oh, right," Eight said. "I can't remember, had we decided whether something had led us here or whether we just followed the time vortex to its end?"

"I think-" Two said as the TARDIS rocked to the side one more time. "Oh, there's the last one."

"Oh, I see you're all here already," the newest arrival said.

"Oh, so I have a beard now? That's new," Eight said.

Nine, Ten, and Eleven stepped aside quietly, letting the new arrival take center stage.

"So you're Thirteen? My goodness, the last one," One said, stepping forward.

"Me? Thirteen? No, no, I'm after him," the new one said, gesturing vaguely to Eight.

"What?" Four said. "In between Eight and Nine? You must be one of those in between incarnations."

"Oh, no," said Six, looking angry. "I know who you are, Valeyard!*" He glared at the new arrival and motioned for the others to join him.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," the War Doctor said exasperatedly. "Of course I'm not the Valeyard."

"No, but let's face it, there's not much difference between you two," Nine said darkly.

"Why? Because he's fought in a war? Tell me, how different is that from anything you've done, or any of us has done?" Twelve asked aggressively.

"No, he's right," the War Doctor said sadly. "I'm not the Valeyard, but I'm not all that removed from him either. I've done things in that war that I never would have dreamed myself capable of."

"You're referring to this, this...Time War, I assume?" One asked.

The War Doctor nodded, and Six rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm getting very tired of hearing about this war that won't even happen for three more incarnations."

"I didn't bring it up!" The War Doctor protested. "I'm very glad to be out of it, even for a few moments. Where are we, anyway?"

"The end of the universe," Five said. "Everything's collapsing around us."

"Is it really? How fascinating," the War Doctor said.

"You know, this means someone must be pulling us here," Ten said conversationally. "Because that war is time-locked. Nothing can get in or out. Even if he heard the vortex collapsing, he couldn't have got out to follow it."

"You're right," Eleven said. He turned to the War Doctor. "How did you get here? Why did you decide to come here?"

The War Doctor shrugged, "I just...thought it. The end of the universe couldn't be any worse than the Time War, could it? Besides, I thought if I could see it end, far in the future, I'd know that I was fighting for something worthwhile."

"But how did you get here?" Nine asked.

"I told you, I thought it and then I came here. I don't even remember how," the War Doctor answered, looking confused. "Is that why I find there are places I can't go? Because the war is time-locked?"

"Er, yeah, sorry about that," Ten said. "It had to be contained somehow."

"No, don't be! I would have done the same."

"So, I may just be a little confused, but who exactly are you? If you're not the Thirteenth?" Five asked.

"I'm you," the War Doctor answered. "Between Eight and Nine."

"But you're a fully-fledged incarnation?" Three asked.

"I am, but I'm not the Doctor," the War Doctor said. "I can't be the Doctor if all I do is fight." His tone remained calm, although his expression grew pensive with what he had lost.

"Is it just me, or do things seem to get a bit confusing in our old age?" Four said in an aside to Seven.

"Tell me about it," Twelve said, overhearing them.

"So, now we've determined someone's bringing us here," Two said. "The only question is, who?"

They all looked around, no one wanting to say that something with the power to bring them all here and keep them here was unimaginably powerful. Someone that even all together, they might not be able to stop.

*The Valeyard, for anyone who doesn't know, is a semi-incarnation in between the Doctors twelfth and final regenerations, made up of all the Doctor's darkest impulses. From the Sixth Doctor serial The Trial of a Time Lord