Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 37 - End Game

She could see his jaw tighten out of the corner of her eye. "It was cold. Icy cold, like it'd been refrigerated. And if Bria was - is - human, like I'm assuming, then it should have been warm."

"Bria's human," the Doctor affirmed, sounding strained. "Completely human."

She nodded, still studying the absolutely fascinating piece of dirt on her shoes. "Like I said, I didn't realize it at first, but when I thought about it, too many things didn't make sense. The blood being cold. Coming from the beak, when that's not where..." she trailed off, clearing her throat.

"Well. Anyway, it left a stain, but you were scrubbing at it shortly after it fell. Human blood doesn't do that. And like I said, maybe I was desperate, but I so wanted to hope that you were alive. That... you'd tried to encourage me." There was a pause, and then his hand cupped her chin, gently tilting it up until she glanced up, just for a second. But she found none of the blame she'd expected, only a soft grief on his face.

"I would have if I could, fairy-girl," he told her quietly, before sighing. "He played me for a fool, and I let him. If I'd been paying more attention, I would've picked up on the inconsistencies sooner. But he kept us moving, always reactive and never proactive. Never enough time to truly stop and think. And even after I was captured, I was too focused on breaking free and finding you to manage anything else."

She looked up for the first time, his icy blue eyes melting just a little as they met hers. "There you are," he whispered. "I really was worried about you. The Master knows our fears, and how to play off of them. For you, it was the robots, and the fake blood. Everything that reminded you of Canary Wharf. For me..." He laughed, though there was no joy in it. "It's been what I've always feared. Losing you. Whether to a threat, or to somewhere that I can't follow. And that's something the Master's always known."

She frowned. "I don't understand. I mean, the threat thing, yeah, but... how would I go somewhere you can't follow? You have a TARDIS. You could go anywhere you wanted to; and even when I jump, I always go to someplace where you're at."

"There's one place you can go, where I can't follow," the Doctor told her quietly. When she looked up at him, he tapped her forehead gently with one finger. "When you hide in there, and shut the world out because it's been too cruel, and I can't follow you there."

"But what about the French lady - the girl in the fireplace when you were Ten?" she questioned. "I thought you guys had the ability to do that sort of thing."

"Not without permission," he said gravely. "Never without permission. I would never violate your privacy in such a way." He shut his eyes. "But that's not the point. The point is that the Master used our fears against us to take what he really wanted. This was just a game to him - one he didn't even take seriously, or I wouldn't have been able to escape so easily."

"So then, if he didn't want to kill us, what did he really want?" she asked with a frown. "I know he didn't want to kill me, he said it wasn't my time yet. But what about the rest of us?"

His jaw clenched. "His only intention for the two of us was to make us suffer. Scott was roped in by accident. His real purpose was Bria. He's wanted her all along, because he can use her to bring about the coming of the Siren."

Her head snapped up. "The Siren?"

He nodded, eyes old and weary. "It's time. I know it, and he knows it." He gave her a small, pained smile. "This is the latest you've ever seen me, and I haven't seen you this young in a very long time." He glanced down at the ring, still held securely in his palm. "That... and I believe the writing wasn't meant for just you. And it most certainly wasn't from the Master," he added, lip curling slightly as he slipped it back onto his ring finger.