The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor

Chapter 35

"That's okay, then. I was a bit worried for a minute there."

"You're a man with a long and dangerous past, but your future is infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted."

"You know, you could've told me all this the last time we met," the Doctor snapped.

Dorium sighed. "It was a busy day and I got beheaded."

"What's so dangerous about my future?"

"On the Fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered."

"What's Trenzalore?" Elise asked as the Doctor flipped through a small notebook.

"Silence will fall when the question is asked," the Doctor read off.

"Silence must fall would be a better translation," Dorium told him, "The Silence are determined the question will never be answered. That the Doctor will never reach Trenzalore."

But what was Trenzalore?

"I don't understand. What's it got to do with me?"

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Would you like to know what it is?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

The atmosphere of the room changed as the skulls on the shelves turned to look at them.

"Very, very sure?" Dorium asked.

"Of course," the Doctor said.

"Then I shall tell you. But on your own head be it."

"It's not my fault. Put me back!" Dorium yelled as they entered the TARDIS.

The Doctor set him down in the jump seat and ran to the console.

"Ow! I've fallen on my nose!"

He flipped a couple of levers and the TARDIS took off.

"Have you got wi-fi here? I'm bored already and my nose is hurting," Dorium said, "We all have to die, Doctor, but you more than most. You do see that, don't you? You know what the question is now. You do see that you have to die. Doctor. Please. Open my hatch. I've got an awful headache. Which to be honest means more than it used to."

The Doctor opened the door to find Dorium upside down.

"It's like some terrible weight pressing down on my..." Dorium opened his eyes. "Oh. I see."

"Why Lake Silencio? Why Utah?"

"It's a still point in time. Makes it easier to create a fixed point. And your death is a fixed point, Doctor. You can't run away from this."

"Been running all my life. Why should I stop?"

"Because now you know what's at stake. Why your life must end."

"Not today."

The Doctor picked up the TARDIS phone and dialed a number.

"What's the point in delaying? How long have you delayed already?"

"Been knocking about. A bit of a farewell tour. Things to do, people to see. There's always more. I could invent a new color, save the Dodo, join the Beatles."

The person on the side picked up.

"Hello, it's me. Get him. Tell him, we're going out and it's all on me, except for the money and driving. I have got a time machine, Dorium. It's all still going on. For me, it never stops. Liz the First is still waiting in a glade to elope with me. I could help Rose Tyler with her homework. I could go on all of Jack's stag parties in one night!"

"Time catches up with us all, Doctor."

"Well, it has never laid a glove on me! Hello?"

Elise watched her father's face fall.

"Yes. Yes, I..."

"Doctor? What's wrong?" Dorium asked.

"Nothing. Nothing. It's just..." The Doctor hung up the phone and pulled out the TARDIS blue envelopes. His eyes met Elise's as he said, "It's time. It's time." The Doctor approached Elise, who was dangerously close to crying. "You know what to do."

Elise nodded and threw her arms around the Doctor. "I love you," Elise whispered.

The Doctor smiled through his own tears. "I love you too, my clever girl." The Doctor pulled away from her and kissed her forehead.

After handing off the envelopes to the Teselecta, they headed off for Utah.

The Doctor left the TARDIS and Elise was alone. About 10 minutes later, the cloister bell started ringing.

"What's going on?" Elise asked. She ran around the console, trying to take off but the TARDIS had locked the controls. "What are you doing? Why won't you let me fly?"

Elise stepped back from the console as she felt a large disturbance in time. "What's going on?" she asked. She was on her own without the Doctor for the first time and she had no idea what to do.