All of Space and Time

Chapter Twelve: Secrets We Keep

When the Tardis landed she paused for a moment. She was anxious to see her home again, but yet not. That feeling of dread growing with each step she took towards the doors. Something was wrong and now it grew too hard to ignore. "Just rip it off, like a bandage." She told herself. "Come on Doctor, just open the door." She sighed before reaching for the door. A slight tremor in her hand. Some part of her just wanted to run back to the console and fly away. Everything was fine. It had to be. Why was she even here? This was a waste of time. The Master was a master manipulator and liar. Another part of her however, wanted to open the door, wanted to know for sure he was lying. To know for a fact rather than spend the rest of her life speculating. "It's fine, it had to be..." she said in an attempt to reassure herself. She opened the door and stepped out. When it closed she rose her eyes to a sight that left her absolutely distraught.

He was right. The Master was right. Tears formed in her eyes as she took in a shuddering breath. It was gone... everything was gone. Gallifrey was burned to the ground. The dome of the citadel shattered and destroyed. Smoke rose high as the fires still burned. The glare of the twin suns barely managing to poke through. Every building, every road, every walking path destroyed. Again! It was all gone. Every blade of grass, every tree, dead and gone. The people... her people... she reached out with her mind and felt no one. They were all gone. It was empty. She was all alone again... the last of her kind. Just her and the Master...

The Doctor stumbled her way back into the Tardis too shocked to pay attention to her movements as tears fell down her face. She shook her head no... it couldn't be gone. But it was. It was muscle memory at this point as she put the Tardis into the vortex. She paced the console trying to gain control of her emotions. She was still in shock and didn't know how to process this. Gallifrey was gone again. She sat on the stairs. The Tardis had turned the lights blue and dimmed them considerably to reflect her own mood. The Doctor had no doubt she was mourning her fallen sisters, and their pilots.

Something beeped in her pocket and the Doctor reached in pulling out a small device. "Geo activated." The device called in the voice of the Master. She looked over her shoulder and saw a hologram appear on the other side of the Tardis. She picked herself up and ran towards it. "If you're seeing this you've been to Gallifrey. When I said someone did that..." He paused and the Doctor was anxious to find out who. Who could have done that? Who could have the capability or the knowledge to obliterate her home planet like that? "Obviously I meant... I did." The Doctor froze narrowing her eyes a small sneer playing in her lips. "I had to make them pay for what I discovered. They lied to us, the founding fathers of Gallifrey. Everything we were told was a lie." The Doctor shook her head. She couldn't believe this. How could everything be a lie? What was a lie? "We are not who we think, you or I. The whole existence of our species... built on the lie of the timeless child." But that was just a story. A legend.

The Doctor winced as her head started pounding. She slowly crouched down until she was sitting on the ground. Images of the remnants from Desolation, crossed her mind as they spoke of the timeless child. Then she saw it. A young child, standing at a monument all alone. Just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared. She looked up to the hologram questioningly. "It's buried deep in all our memories. In our identity." He took in a sharp breath clearly just as emotional as the Doctor, if that were possible. "I'd tell you more, but..." he shook his head before looking at her sternly. A dark look on his face. "But why would I make it easy for you? It wasn't for me." His hologram disappeared and she took in a few shaky breaths before throwing the device from her pocket in a fit of rage. She stayed there on the ground taking in a few more shudders before another snarl made its way to her face. How could he? After everything? How could he do this?! She looked angrily around the console room. She was feeling a mixture of emotions. Pain, sadness, sorrow, grief, regret, anger. Lots and lots of anger.