One year later
Just like it was one year prior, Annabelle had her arms chained up to the ceiling of the Valiant and her legs chained down to the floor.
Only this time, she didn't hold her head high.
Instead, she kept her head hung low and only blankly stared down at the stage floor of the Valiant, while she listened to the Master say to the Doctor, "It's ready to rise, Doctor. The new Time Lord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good?" When the Doctor didn't respond to his words, the Master asked him, "Anything?"
After repeatedly waving his hand in front of the Doctor's face and still not getting a reaction out of him, the Master asked him, "No? Anything?" As he turned his head to look out at the spheres that were flying around in the skies, he asked the Doctor, "Oh, but they broke your heart, didn't they, those Toclafane? Ever since you worked out what they really are. They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?"
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Leave her alone."
With a nod of his head, the Master asked him, "But you said something to her, didn't you? On the day I took control. What did you tell her?"
The Doctor told him, "I have one thing to say to you." When the Master had only slightly raised an eyebrow at him, the Doctor said to him, "You know what it is."
The Master replied, "Oh, no you don't!"
While the Master had pushed him over towards another side of the room, a voice was heard saying, "Valiant now entering Zone One airspace." While the Doctor was left to roll into one of the walls in the room, the voice was heard saying, "Citizens, rejoice!"
With a clap of his hands, the Master yelled, "Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch day in 24 hours!"
It was only moments after the Master had yelled those words that Annabelle had heard Jack say, "Morning, Tish! Ah! Smell that sea air! Makes me long for good old British fish and chips." Then– after hearing him let out a laugh– he said, "And what do I get? Cold mashed swede. Some hotel. Last time I book over the internet."
In response to hearing Jack's voice, Annabelle– for about the millionth time for the past year– simply closed her eyes and tried everything that she could to ignore the sound of his voice and just how seemingly cheerful he seemed to sound in her own personal opinion, despite being held hostage and repeatedly killed by the Master for the past year.
* * *
While Annabelle had kept her eyes squeezed shut and tried to ignore everything that was going on around her, an alarm was heard, shortly before a voice was heard yelling, "Condition red! Repeat, condition red!"
And because of her desperation to ignore everything that was going on around her, Annabelle was missing the fact that Francine Jones had grabbed onto the Master's coat and tossed it over towards Letitia, who had quickly handed it over towards the Doctor.
And not even a minute after being handed the coat, the Doctor had pulled the Master's own screwdriver out of his coat before he pointed it up at the Master, who said, "Oh, I see."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "I told you. I have one thing to say."
In response to the Doctor's words, the Master had only let out a laugh, shortly before Annabelle heard Jack say, "Oh, here we go again."
While Annabelle had simply clenched her jaw in response to hearing rapid gunfire, the Master had started to take the screwdriver out of the Doctor's hands as he said, "Isomorphic controls." After hitting the Doctor and causing him to fall down onto the floor, the Master told him, "Which means they only work for me. Like this!"
Then he shot the laser screwdriver over in the direction of Francine, who quickly ducked down onto the floor, shortly before the Master yelled, "Say sorry!"
In turn, Francine yelled, "Sorry, sorry!" And while Letitia had quickly ran over towards her mother, Francine yelled, "Sorry!"
While the mother and daughter had simply hugged one another, the Master asked, "Didn't you learn anything from the blessed St. Martha?" While Lucy had started to put the Master's coat back onto him, he said, "Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away."
While Letitia and Francine were led out of the room, the Master started to pull the Doctor up from the floor as he said, "Okay, got you." As he started to put the Doctor into a nearby chair, he said, "There you go, gramps."
After putting the Doctor into the chair, he sat down on the table in front of the Doctor as he said, "Oh! Do you know... I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed! And look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this?" With a mere raise of his eyebrows, he said, "Oh, yeah! Me!"
After the Master had simply let out a laugh, the Doctor said to him, "I just need you to listen."
With a shake of his head, the Master replied, "No, it's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot! And this time it's a message for Miss Jones."
* * *
With a bit of a smirk on his face, the Master said, "My people! Salutations. On this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child walking the Earth, giving you hope." After walking away from the camera and making his way over towards where the Doctor was sitting in a wheelchair, he said, "But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?"
Then he said to the Doctor, "Say hello, Gandalf!" Then he said to the camera, "Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?"
While Annabelle had only clenched her hands into fists in response to the Master's words, the Master asked the Doctor, "All nine-hundred years of your life, Doctor, what if we could see them?" After pointing his screwdriver at the Doctor once more, he said, "Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor! Down, down. Down the years."
It wasn't until he'd lowered his screwdriver and made his way over towards where the Doctor's clothes had laid on the floor that he said, "Doctor?"
When he saw no form of movement coming from the clothing, the Master had glanced over towards his right before he crouched down and could eventually see something moving from the inside of the Doctor's suit.
It was then that he could see the Doctor's small and shrunken head poke out of the suit, which got the Master to only raise his eyebrows and simply smirk to himself before he asked, "Received and understood, Miss Jones?"
And while the Master had simply turned off the camera, Annabelle had quietly sighed to herself before she forced herself to relax on her hands– all in an attempt to keep the Master from bringing his attention back over to her, despite the fact that it had been two weeks since he had last psychologically tortured her.
After all, she was still somewhat recovering from the last long and efficient torture that he had used on her, and she wasn't too keen of the idea of him torturing her some more– after what had happened the last time that he'd tortured her.
* * *
After the elevator door to the room that Annabelle and the Doctor were in had opened to reveal the Master and his wife, the Master took a step forward and said, "Tomorrow they launch." As he slowly walked over towards the cage that he was keeping the Doctor inside of, the Master told him, "We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. Won't see us coming. Kind of scary."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Then stop."
The Master told him, "Once the empire is established and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops." After coming to a halt in front of the Doctor's cage, the Master said to him, "The drumming. The never-ending drum beat. Ever since I was a child, I looked into the Vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now, right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor."
When the Doctor had only grabbed onto the bars of his cage, the Master said to him, "Tell me."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "It's only you."
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Master said, "Good."
It was then that one of the spheres had flown into the room and said, "Tomorrow, the war! Tomorrow, we rise, never to fall!"
As he backed away from the cage, the Master said, "You see? I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them. So very, very much." After sitting down on one of the chairs in the room, he said, "I took Lucy to Utopia. A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars."
Then he turned to Lucy and asked her, "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
While Annabelle had silently listened to the sound of Lucy's unsteady heartbeat, Lucy turned to the Doctor and said, "Trillions of years into the future. To the end of the universe."
Then the Master said to Lucy, "Tell him what you saw."
Lucy told the Doctor, "Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought, 'There's no point. No point to anything. Not ever'."
Then the Master said to the Doctor, "And it's all your fault." While Annabelle did everything that she could to ignore the sound of the Master's voice, the Master said, "You should have seen it, Doctor. Furnaces. Burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark."
And while the Doctor had simply thought back on Annabelle's words about how foolish it was for the humans to all think that it would be a good idea for any of them to seek out the place that called itself Utopia, the Master said, "All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons, it all turned inward. They cannibalized themselves."
Then the sphere said, "We made ourselves so pretty."
Then the Master said, "Regressing into children, but it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them." With a mere shake of his head, he said, "My masterpiece, Doctor. A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place. Allowing the past and the future to collide is infinite majesty."
The Doctor replied, "But you're changing history. Not just Earth, the entire universe."
The Master told him, "I'm a Time Lord. I have that right."
As he forced himself to stand up in his cage, the Doctor asked him, "But even then... why come all this way just to destroy?"
It was then that the same sphere from before said, "We come backwards in time all to build a brand-new empire lasting one-hundred trillion years!"
Then the Master said, "With me as their Master. Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?" After standing up from his chair and walking over towards the cage that the Doctor was in, the Master said to him, "Human race. Greatest monsters of them all."
After making his way over towards Lucy and wrapping an arm around her, he turned to the Doctor and said to him, "Night, then."
It wasn't until the Master and Lucy had walked out of the room with the sphere flying closely behind them that Annabelle had raised her head and stared after them with her eyes narrowed and a scowl on her face before she finally forced herself to look over at the Doctor and could do nothing but sigh to herself when she saw the state that he was in.
But instead of saying anything to him, Annabelle had simply lowered her head once more and chose to ignore the fact that the Doctor was now staring at her with those big eyes of his and his hands holding onto the bars of his cage.
After everything that had happened, she couldn't even bear to look at the Doctor anymore or even say anything to him.
And even if she wanted to, she couldn't because somehow, the Master always seemed to know when she did anything that had to do with the Doctor– even when he wasn't in the same room as Annabelle and the Doctor.
And it was because of her desperation to keep his attention off of herself and have the Master focus on anything that wasn't herself that she only squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to tune out the sound of the Doctor's voice when she heard him say her name.
* * *
While Captain Jack Harkness had simply glanced over at Letitia, Clive and Francine– who each stood in the room with guns pointed at them– the Doctor watched as the Master had crouched down in front of Annabelle and stared up at the unstable Original that simply chose to keep her eyes closed and refused to look at much of anyone else, despite the fact that she'd seen the state that the Doctor was in after the last time that the Master had spoken to the Doctor.
It was as if she couldn't bear to look at anyone– much less anything– in the room without losing control of herself.
And Captain Jack Harkness wasn't the least bit happy to see Annabelle like that– compared to how she was prior to her being kidnapped by the Master.
From what Captain Jack could see, Annabelle was barely a shell of her former self, and it was the small bit of strength that she had left that kept her from truly snapping and losing all control of herself.
And with Martha Jones due to enter the room, the Master didn't seem to like that one bit– due to the almost annoyed look that the Master had on his face when Annabelle had still refused to open her eyes and look at him.
It was almost as if he wanted to show off to Martha just how much more he'd broken Annabelle, despite Martha not really seeing much of just how truly broken Annabelle was other than what she'd seen of Annabelle at the airport.
It wasn't long after this thought had passed through Captain Jack's mind that the Master had let out a sigh before he slowly stood back up and then proceeded to harshly grab at the sides of her face, which resulted in Annabelle flinching to herself and letting out a groan, while the Master had forced his way into her mind for the first time in two weeks.
And while the Master had only slightly chuckled to himself in response to the pain-filled groans that came pouring out of Annabelle's mouth, Annabelle wanted nothing more than for him to get out of her head and to stop twisting it into any little ways that he felt suited him best.
But– after being tortured by him for almost three years now– she knew very well that he wouldn't do that unless she did what he wanted.
And what he wanted more than anything at that very moment was for her to open her eyes, raise her head and see Martha being led into the room at gunpoint with the knowledge that Annabelle herself, the Doctor, and even Captain Jack Harkness were incapable of saving Martha Jones from the fate that the Master was going to bestow upon the human girl that Annabelle had spent the past year thinking about whenever she wasn't being tortured by the Master.
And naturally, she was going to fight against the urge that was slowly building up inside of her head for her to open her eyes and watch Martha be led into the room, but she couldn't do much of that when the pain that came with the Master invading her mind only seemed to increase with every second that she chose to fight against the urge that he had planted into her head.
And it was because of just how much the invasion of her mind was hurting her that Annabelle had no choice but to– over her own free will– open her eyes and stare into the light brown eyes of the very person that had spent almost three years of her life torturing her the way that he did.
The Master.
The moment that she'd opened her eyes, the Master silently eyed her and waited to see if at least a look of annoyance or the look that he had been accustomed to– one that would show him just how much she wanted to kill him– would at least make some form of an appearance on her face.
But nothing.
Her eyes looked even more dead now than they did the day that he had taken her with him.
And it was because of the blank look on her face and the way that she seemed to just stare right through him that the Master had only smirked to himself before he said, "Now, Annabelle..." After watching her blink her eyes and actually seem to see him and not simply just stare right through him, he said to her, "You are going to pick up that head of yours and watch Martha walk into this room, and you are not going to make a sound. You are not going to attempt to do or say anything that could be interpreted as you trying to help her."
After silently eyeing her, he said to her, "Well, not to say that you could, but..." When she only blinked at him, he told her, "Because if you do..."
It was then that he'd pressed the tips of his fingers even more into the sides of her head, which got Annabelle to wince to herself, shortly before the Master said to her, "I'm sure that you can work out for yourself just what I will do, if you even so much as attempt to help Martha Jones. Isn't that right, Annabelle Mikaelson?"
When she didn't immediately respond to his words, the smirk had fallen from his face and he looked as if he was going to follow through on his threat, only to stop when she said, "Yes."
With a mere tilt of his head, he asked her, "Yes, what?"
After blinking at him for a third time, she said, "Yes, Master."
In response to her words, the Master had only smirked at her once more before he harshly patted the sides of her face and then proceeded to turn away from her and waited for the elevator doors to open and Martha Jones to be led into the room.
It was only mere moments after his talk with Annabelle and his successful attempt of getting her to open her eyes that the elevator doors had opened and Martha Jones had stepped into the room and saw three members of her family standing on one side of the rooms with a single man pointing a gun at the three of them, shortly before the Master had turned to face Martha and took a couple of steps towards the top of the stairs that led up to the stage that he was standing on with a beaten-up looking Lucy Saxon standing beside him and a chained-up Annabelle Mikaelson only a mere couple of inches away from the Master stood.
After seeing how Annabelle had only seemed to be staring right through Martha and didn't seem to truly acknowledge the fact that Martha was actually in the same room as her for the first time in a year, Martha took a couple of steps forward and saw that Captain Jack Harkness was standing on the opposite side of the room to her family before she eventually looked over at the Doctor and simply smiled to herself upon seeing him.
Only a couple of seconds after Captain Jack had attempted to take a step forward towards Martha, the Master held a single hand out towards Martha as he said, "Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten." After watching Martha take the teleport device and then proceed to toss it over to him, the Master caught it with his hands before he said to her, "And now kneel."
While Martha had proceeded to do just as he'd told her to do, the Master said, "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two-hundred-thousand ships set to burn across the universe." After making his way over towards another part of the stage and pressing a button, he asked, "Are we ready?"
It was then that they all heard a voice say, "The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!"
As he stared down at his watch, the Master said, "Three minutes to align the Black Hole Convertors. Counting down!" While the countdown had simply started, the Master said, "I never could resist a ticking clock."
Then he asked, "My children, are you ready?"
In turn, the spheres said, "We will fly and blaze and slice! We will fly and blaze and slice!"
Then the Master said, "At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die." With a chuckle, he said, "My first blood."
Then he proceeded to ask Martha, "Any last words?" When she only stared up at him, he said, "No?"
After looking over at the Doctor, the Master took a couple of steps down the stairs as he said, "Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex! This one's useless!" Then– after pointing his screwdriver at Martha– he said to her, "Bow your head."
Then– with a mere raise of his head– he said, "And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward..." After hearing Martha start to laugh to herself, the Master asked her, "What? What's so funny?"
It was then that Martha raised her head and asked him, "A gun?"
In turn, the Master asked her, "What about it?"
With a nod of her head, Martha asked him, "A gun in four parts?"
With a nod of his own head, the Master replied, "Yes, and I destroyed it."
Then Martha asked him, "A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world? I mean, come on! Did you really believe that?"
With a mere shake of his head, the Master asked her, "What do you mean?"
It was then that the Doctor said to him, "As if I would ask her to kill."
With a mere wave of his arms, the Master replied, "Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."
With a simple raise of her eyebrows, Martha told the Master, "But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here. At the right time."
With a sigh, the Master said to her, "But you're still gonna die."
With a mere raise of her head, Martha asked him, "Don't you want to know what I was doing, traveling the world?"
With a mere shrug of his shoulders, the Master said to her, "Tell me."
Then Martha told him, "I told a story. That's all." While the Master had sat down at the top of the stairs, she said, "No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
With a mere shake of his head, the Master asked her, "Faith and hope? Is that all?"
Martha replied, "No, 'cause I gave them an instruction." As she stood back up onto her own two feet, she said, "Just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time..."
As he stood back up, the Master yelled, "Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
With a shake of her head, Martha said, "Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment, but with fifteen satellites."
In turn, the Master said, "What?"
Then Captain Jack said, "The Archangel network."
Martha said to the Master, "A telepathic field binding the whole human race together. With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is 'Doctor'."
It wasn't until the countdown had hit zero that a light had seemed to come from the inside of the cage that the Doctor was being held inside of, which got the Master to say, "Stop it. No, no, no, no, you don't."
It was then that– one by one– the Jones family, Jack, every single human around the world and even Lucy Saxon for that matter had each said 'Doctor'.
In response to the glowing continuing, the Master yelled, "Stop this right now! Stop it!"
As he slowly stood back up and the cage had seemingly disappeared from around him, the Doctor said, "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."
In turn, the Master yelled, "I order you to stop!"
While the Master had quickly made his way down the stairs and away from where Lucy stood on the stage, the Doctor said, "The one thing you can't do is stop them thinking." As he started to float up in the air from where his cage had once stood, he said, "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
And while Martha had quickly run over towards her family and Annabelle had simply blinked to herself in response to what she was seeing, the Master had quickly shot his laser screwdriver at the Doctor as he yelled, "No!"
When the screwdriver only seemed to have no effect on the Doctor, the Doctor said to him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
In turn, the Master said to him, "Then I'll kill them!"
With only a mere thrust of the Doctor's hand, the screwdriver was sent flying out of the Master's hand and was sent sliding across the room.
With a quick shake of his head, the Master yelled, "You can't do this! You can't do... It's not fair!"
With a mere nod of his head, the Doctor said to him, "And you know what happens now."
In turn, the Master yelled, "No!" While the Doctor had started to fly over towards him, the Master quickly backed away from him as he yelled, "No! No! No!"
The Doctor said to him, "You wouldn't listen."
Once more, the Master yelled, "No!"
Then the Doctor said to him, "Because you know what I'm going to say."
In turn, the Master said to him, "No."
It wasn't until the Master had made himself into a ball of sorts and seemed to try to hide himself from the Doctor that the Doctor had landed onto the floor and wrapped his arms around the Master before he said, "I forgive you."
It was then that the Master said, "My children!"
It wasn't long afterwards that the spheres said, "Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox!"
As he quickly ran away from the Master, the Doctor yelled, "Captain, the paradox machine!"
In turn, Captain Jack yelled, "You men, with me!" Then he told Martha and her family, "You stay here."
It wasn't long afterwards that the Master had pulled out the very same vortex manipulator that Martha had tossed over to him and simply straightened his back, which resulted in the Doctor running over to him and grabbing onto the vortex manipulator as he yelled, "No!"
It was then that both the Doctor and the Master had disappeared from the inside of the room, which had each member of the Jones family turn their attention over towards Annabelle and the blank look that she continued to wear on her face.
But instead of staring over at them like she had the moment that Martha had stepped into the room, the only thing that Annabelle did was tilt her head as she stared directly at Martha and looked as if she wanted to narrow her eyes upon truly seeing Martha Jones be in the same room as her.
In response to seeing Annabelle only tilt her head, Martha asked her, "Annabelle, you remember me, don't you? Martha Jones– the human that you and the Doctor had been traveling with for a year?" When Annabelle had only blinked at Martha, Martha asked her, "You do remember me, don't you? I was the human that the Doctor had made you swear not to kill before we all went to see Shakespeare. Do you remember that? Do you remember seeing Shakespeare and having to defeat those Carrionites– the ones that you said would offend the witches that you personally knew because of their physical similarity to the stereotypical form of witches?"
When she still received no response from Annabelle but a mere blink of her eyes, Martha asked her, "And what about when we were in New York in the year 1930 when we had to fight against those Daleks? You remember the Daleks, don't you?" When Annabelle had only continued to stare at her, Martha said to her, "The Doctor told me that you poked one of them in the head and you-you asked if it had a brain in its head or if it was just an automation. Do you remember that, Annabelle?"
When Annabelle had only continued to remain silent, Martha asked her, "Do you remember anything?" After letting out a sigh, she asked, "Or did the Master damage you far too much and anything left that you had of yourself is long gone now?"
In response to Martha's words, Annabelle had only tilted her head some more, which got Martha to let out a sigh before she said, "Right. So, maybe there is still a part of you buried deep within you– underneath all of the torture that you had been put through because of the Master." After letting out yet another sigh, she said, "I don't blame you, Annabelle. If it were me that was in your place and had to be subjected to his constant tortures, I would have done anything– become anything– if it meant that he didn't hurt me anymore."
Once more, Annabelle had only tilted her head before she turned to look away from Martha and only stared ahead of herself as she waited to see just which of the two Time Lords were going to return to the Valiant.
* * *
After taking a quick look out of one of the windows of the Valiant, the Doctor said, "The paradox is broken. We've reverted back. One year and one day, two minutes past eight in the morning."
It wasn't long afterwards that they heard a voice ask, "This is UNIT Central, what's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated."
In turn, the Doctor said, "See. Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal, planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror, it never was."
Martha asked him, "What about the spheres?"
The Doctor told her, "Trapped at the end of the universe."
With a mere turn of her head, Francine said, "But I can remember it."
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Doctor said, "We're at the eye of the storm, the only ones who'll ever know." Then– with a quick turn of his head– the Doctor quickly made his way over towards Clive Jones as he yelled, "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones! We haven't actually met."
It was then that the Master had quickly ran across the room and over towards the door to the room, only to come to a halt when Captain Jack had appeared on the other side of the door and said to him, "Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party." Then he turned to the closest man with a gun and said to him, "Cuffs."
After putting the cuffs around the Master's wrists, Captain Jack asked, "So, what do we do with this one?"
Clive told him, "We kill him."
Then Letitia said, "We execute him."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "No, that's not the solution." Then he told the Master, "You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence."
Captain Jack replied, "Yeah, but you can't trust him. I mean, after everything he did to Annabelle, do you really think that he can be trusted with anything?"
While the Master had simply looked past the Doctor and over at Annabelle, who had only stared at him with a blank look on her face and didn't seem to care all that much about what was going to happen, the Doctor said to Captain Jack, "No. The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."
It was then that the Master had looked back at the Doctor and asked him, "You mean you're just gonna keep me?"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said to him, "If that's what I have to do." Then he turned to Captain Jack and said to him, "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I've got someone to care for."
It was then that a gunshot was heard, which got those in the room– excluding Annabelle– to simply jump in place, shortly before the Doctor had quickly run over towards the Master and started to hold the Master in his arms.
And while Captain Jack had started to take the gun out of Lucy's hands, Annabelle's head had truly raised of her own accord and– for the first time in a while– her veins had come onto display as she quickly focused her attention onto the spot on the Master's chest where the bullet had hit him.
And while Annabelle had tried to break herself free of the chains that the Master had been keeping her in a veined attempt to get so much as a simple taste of the blood that was– more than likely– leaking out of the Master's wounds, the Doctor said to him, "There you go. I've got you, I've got you."
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Master said, "Always the women."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "I didn't see her."
Then the Master said to him, "Dying in your arms. Happy now?"
The Doctor replied, "You're not dying, don't be stupid. It's only a bullet, just regenerate."
The Master said to him, "No."
The Doctor said to him, "One little bullet, come on."
The Master replied, "I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Regenerate, just regenerate, please. Please, just regenerate, come on!"
The Master asked him, "And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?"
The Doctor told him, "But you've got to. Come on, it can't end like this. You and me. All the things we've done. Axons! Remember the Axons, and the Daleks." When the Master had only continued to stare up at him, the Doctor said to him, "We're the only two left. There's no one else. Regenerate!"
It was then that the Master said to him, "How about that? I win." Then– after letting out some groaning– the Master asked him, "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop?"
It wasn't long after the Master had asked those questions that the Doctor had let out a yell and continued to rock the body of the Master in his arms as he continued to cry to himself, while Annabelle simply continued to stare at the Master's unmoving body with her veins on display and no visible emotion whatsoever to be seen on her face.
* * *
While Captain Jack had simply glanced down to his right and watched Annabelle continue to drink her way through as many blood bags as he could get her from a nearby hospital in an attempt to make up for the months that the Master had practically starved her of human blood, Martha said, "Time was every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Good."
It was then that Captain Jack said to him, "Back to work."
While Captain Jack had patted Annabelle on the shoulder and then proceeded to swing himself under the pipe that the Doctor and Martha were resting their arms on, the Doctor said to him, "I really don't mind, though. Come with me."
With a nod of his head, Captain Jack told him, "Had plenty of time to think that past year. The year that never was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor. Responsibility."
With a nod of his own head, the Doctor replied, "Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that."
After the Doctor had gone out of his way to hold Captain Jack's arm down onto the pipe, Captain Jack said to him, "Hey, I need that!"
The Doctor told him, "I can't have you walking round with a time-traveling teleport." As he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the vortex manipulator, he said, "You could go anywhere. Twice. Second time to apologize."
In turn, Captain Jack asked him, "And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"
With a shake of his head, the Doctor replied, "Nothing I can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack."
After letting out a chuckle, Captain Jack said, "Been called that before." After taking only a step away from them, he turned back to face the Doctor once more and saluted him before he said, "Sir."
After the Doctor had only saluted him with a single finger, Captain Jack looked over at Martha and winked at her before he said to her, "Ma'am."
After Martha had also saluted him, Captain Jack turned to Annabelle and said, "Annabelle." When Annabelle had only glanced up at him from the blood bag that she was tearing into, Captain Jack had simply nodded his head at her and went to walk away from them once more, only to stop when Captain Jack had turned to the Doctor and asked him, "But I keep wondering, what about aging? 'Cause I can't die, but I keep getting older, the odd little gray hair, you know. What happens if I live for a million years?"
With a shake of his head, the Doctor said to him, "I really don't know."
After letting out a chuckle, Captain Jack said, "Okay, vanity, sorry. Yeah. Can't help it. Used to be a poster boy! When I was a kid, living in the Boeshane Peninsula, tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe they called me." While Martha and the Doctor's faces had simply fallen in response to his words, Captain Jack let out a chuckle before he said, "I'll see you."
While Captain Jack had started to actually walk away from them that time, the Doctor said, "No."
Then Martha said, "Can't be."
In turn, the Doctor said, "No. Definitely not. No." While Martha had only started to laugh to herself, the Doctor said, "No!"
Then– just like that– the Doctor had started to laugh as well and Annabelle had only watched with that very same blank look on her face, while Captain Jack continued to run from them and left the two fellow time travelers to continue to laugh to themselves in response to what Captain Jack had just revealed to them.
* * *
After stepping back into the TARDIS and taking off his trench coat, the Doctor had glanced over at Annabelle and watched as she continued to quickly drink her way through the blood bags that he had also gotten for her– as an apology for everything that she had been put through by the Master.
Then– with a sigh– he patted her shoulder and went to sit down on a chair over by a part of the controls to the TARDIS before he put his feet up on the controls and crossed one of his legs over the other.
It wasn't long afterwards that Martha had walked into the TARDIS and closed the door behind herself, which got the Doctor to yell, "Right then! Off we go. The open road!" After going over to the other side of the controls, he said, "There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could... I don't know, Charles II? Henry VIII? I know, what about Agatha Christie! I'd love to meet Agatha Christie, bet she's brilliant!"
When Martha had only continued to silently stare at him, the Doctor said to her, "Okay."
After only nodding her head, Martha told him, "I just can't."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Yeah."
With a mere nod of her head, Martha said to him, "I've spent all these years training to be a doctor, and now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."
The Doctor replied, "Course not." After a couple seconds of silence, he said to her, "Thank you."
Then– just like that– the two of them had wrapped their arms around each other, shortly before the Doctor told her, "Martha Jones, you saved the world."
In turn, Martha said to him, "Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good." After the Doctor had only let out a bit of a chuckle, she asked him, "You going to be alright?"
The Doctor said to her, "Always, yeah. Plus, I've got Annabelle as company, even though the idea of getting her back to normal is going to be a rather long work in progress– especially after everything that happened to her."
With a nod of her head, Martha said to him, "Right, then. Bye."
Then– after kissing the side of his face– Martha had quickly walked back out of the TARDIS, which allowed the Doctor to turn his back on the door to the TARDIS and look over at Annabelle, while she continued to slurp rather loudly at the blood that was inside of an almost empty bag of human blood.
It wasn't long after he turned away from Annabelle and looked back over at the controls that the door to the TARDIS had opened once more, shortly before Martha had quickly made her way over towards him as she said, "'Cause the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them, all packed in, and this bloke was called Shaun. And she loved him, she did, she completely adored him, spent all day long talking about him..."
The Doctor asked her, "Is this going anywhere?"
With a nod of her head, Martha said to him, "Yes." When the Doctor had only crossed his arms over his chest, she told him, "'Cause he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, that was it. And she wasted years pining after him, years of her life, 'cause while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, 'Get out'."
When the Doctor had only nodded his head, she told him, "So this is me... getting out." Then she took a phone out of her pocket and tossed it over towards the Doctor before she said to him, "Keep that. 'Cause I'm not having you disappear! If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running, got it?"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Got it."
After taking a couple of steps towards the door to the TARDIS, Martha said to him, "I'll see you again, mister. And when I do, I'm betting on you to get Annabelle back to her old and usual self, got it?"
In response to her words, the Doctor had only smiled to himself, shortly before Martha had stepped outside of the TARDIS once more– leaving the Doctor to lean his back into the controls and stare ahead of himself for a moment.
And after that, he turned to Annabelle and said to her, "Well, it looks like it's just you and me now, Annabelle." After letting out a sigh, he said to her, "You know, if it wasn't for what the Master did to you, you would have either taken this as the opportunity you needed to kill me or made one of those smart remarks of yours about how you aren't blind or at least something similar to that. You know, kind of like the remarks that you made after we got sent back to 1969 by those weeping angels that we saw before we ended up at the end of the universe with Martha and the Captain."
When she only continued to slurp away at the leftover blood in the bag that was nearing empty, he let out a sigh before he said, "I'm just hoping that I can hold out on my end and get you back to normal soon enough. If I can't, then that means that what the Master did to you has changed every little aspect of your own personal timeline and it would be my fault that you turned out to be different than what was planned for you." After letting out yet another sigh, he said, "Only thing I can do now is hope that he didn't change you too much and that the stubbornness of yours is still buried deep in that head of yours– just as I'm hoping that the true aspects of yourself are hidden, too. Because it would be a shame if he ruined any chances that you would have had at bettering yourself and becoming something much more than just the unstable Original that is feared by vampires, witches and werewolves alike."
Then– after letting out another sigh– he pulled on a lever at the controls of the TARDIS and just like that, the TARDIS slowly and surely disappeared from just in front of the home of the Jones family before he eventually pushed one button in particular and then flicked two switches.
It was only after the two switches had been flicked that the Doctor quickly turned his head when the sound of a horn blaring was heard.
Before he even had the chance to yell at Annabelle to move out of the way, she'd grabbed the mobile refrigerator and then sped over towards the other side of the TARDIS.
This alone got the Doctor to only blink at her with his eyebrows furrowed before he threw himself out of the way– just moments before the front of a boat had come bursting into the top of the TARDIS, which got the Doctor to say, "What? What?" And while the sound of a bell ringing was heard, the Doctor picked up a life buoy and turned it over to see the word 'Titanic' written onto it, which got him to say, "What?"