The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh

Chapter 12

[A/N - Hey! We're back! So since we last talked, I've gotten a job (I lost my old one in June) and my days off are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Maybe that will change, maybe it won't. So I'm going to try to get some writing done in the few hours I have before or after work, but there will most likely be only one update a week. Thank you so much for understanding and enjoy this chapter!]

It was nearly noon when Amy, Jex, and Elise heard the sound of the Gunslinger materializing. The town clock struck 12.

Windows around them started to burst.

Amy unlocked Jex's cell. "Ready?"

Jex ran out of the Marshal's Office, leaving Amy and Elise alone.

Elise nervously paced. "I don't see why we have to hide. Is it because we're girls? If anything, girls and women are stronger than men," Elise ranted.

Amy smiled. Elise was starting to stand up for herself and others, instead of blindly following the Doctor. River was right when she said Elise would be a force to be reckoned with.

"Kahler-Tech. Kahler-Tech." Jex's voice was coming over a loud speaker.

Elise watched the scene from the window.

"Jex. Coward," the Gunslinger said, "Where are you?"

"I'm in my ship."

"Jex? What are you doing? Just go!" the Doctor yelled.

"Where are you from? Where on Kahler?" Jex asked the Gunslinger.

"Now? You're asking him this now?" the Doctor complained.

"Gabrian," the Gunslinger told him.

"I know it. It's beautiful there. When this is over, will you go back?"

"How can I? I am a monster now."

"So am I."

"Just go! Finish this!" the Doctor yelled.

"I'll find you. If I have to tear this universe apart, I will find you," the Gunslinger said.

"I don't doubt that. You'll chase me to another planet and another race will be caught in the cross-fire," Jex told him.

"Face me! Face me!"

"No. You've killed enough. I'm ending the war for you, too."

"Countdown to self-destruct resumed."

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked.

"Ten..."

"The countdown. What's going on? Jex!"

"Thank you, Doctor. I have to face the souls of those I've wronged."

"Five."

"Perhaps they will be kind."

"Three, two, one, zero."

Elise ran out of the Marshal's Office just in time to see an explosion in the distance. Elise hung her head as Amy wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"He behaved with honor at the end. Maybe more than me," the Gunslinger said.

"We could take you back to your world. You could help with the reconstruction," the Doctor told him.

The Gunslinger started to walk towards the entrance to the town as Amy, Rory, and Elise joined the Doctor.

"I will walk into the desert and self-destruct. I'm a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace."

"Except maybe to protect it."

As soon as the Doctor parked the TARDIS outside the Marshall's Office, Elise immediately went to her room and threw herself onto her bed. She heard the wheezing of the engines that told her they were taking off.

A few minutes later, the Doctor entered her room and sat on her bed. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Ellie, I know you think it's your fault, but it was his choice."

Elise sniffled. "But I tried so hard to save him."

"I know, but we can't save everyone. You know that."

"Where's Amy and Rory?"

The Doctor sighed. "They wanted to go home for a bit, so I dropped them off. We're drifting now."

Elise rolled over and laid her head on his chest. The beating of his double hearts always calmed her.

The Doctor stroked her hair.

"Tell me a story."

"A story?" The Doctor laughed. "You haven't asked for one since you were a child."

"Please," Elise said softly.

"Okay, did I ever tell you the story of the Empty Child?"

Elise shook her head.

The Doctor launched into his story, carefully leaving out any important details that Elise didn't need to know yet. "Just that once. Everybody lived."

Elise smiled. "How...how do you deal with it?"

The Doctor kissed her forehead. "Because every now and then, everybody lives."