"The Times They Are A Changin'" (Doctor Who universe)
Title: The Times They Are A Changin' (Doctor Who universe)
Author: Xsquotessuch
Pairing: The Doctor/Gallifrey
Rating: PG-13 for the use of melancholy and a single curse word.
Fandom: Doctor Who
Beta by the lovely tigertale7
Title is taken from a lovely song by Bob Dylan, mainly because I've not an original thought for a title in my body...That and I always kinda connect the Doctor and Dylan.
Summary: The Doctor keeps going. A quasi-historical account on the last of the Time Wars.
"I thought that you would realize that if I ran away from you,
That you would want me too, but I got a big surprise."
- I'll Be Back
The way he remembers it, he'd been much younger.
The TARDIS had been a lifeline cast into the water of time and the universe. It had saved him from going mad, and if it could save him, then it could save them too. Gallifrey's great bastard son and his antique time machine against the great army of the Dalek Empire.
He'd managed to delay the Time War with the "meddling" and "interference" that had gotten him exiled from Gallifrey in the first place. A year in one dimension, five hundred in another; incalculable death and destruction. The only hope to wake his people in time - to make them see the evil coming and prepare against it.
And the hope that they would take him back. That they would let him come home
******
His last chance. One spot in space and time. 20,000 Dalek ships poised to destroy Gallifrey.
If he could stop them first...
It really had been a brilliant plan. Improbable, unlikely to work. and so incredibly, dangerously last minute that by the time anyone figured out what had happened, the first thousand attacking ships had been destroyed. The Doctor, working as fast as the TARDIS controls would let him, had managed to land on and rig 9,989 Dalek ships to self-destruct. Ten more had exploded before the final order from the Dalek Emperor , that all firepower was to be directed toward Gallifrey, had been put into effect. The force used to destroy his home created a hole in the universe where the planet had been, sending a shockwave through the galaxy such that the stars themselves shuddered. The Dalek plan had backfired and the remainder of the Dalek fleet was being annihilated...a bittersweet and ironic victory.
It had been a lucky shot by a random Dalek. The burst of energy had caught him in the chest and thrown him into the TARDIS, just as the last of his sabotaged ships had come apart.
He had been younger then and it had been only sheer determination not to leave his time machine to be destroyed alongside everything else, that he managed to throw the right switches and set the coordinates before slipping into darkness.
"Maybe this will finally be the end of it," he thought as his eyes closed and he slipped to the floor.
***
He awoke in a new body. Tired. Weak. Cursing himself and his regeneration. By rights he should be dead; extinct like the people he couldn't save. It wasn't fair, but the universe never was, and he knew that. Had he not been so tired, he would have wept.
The Doctor ran a hand through his now close-cropped hair and sighed.
He'd go back to Earth. Didn't really have anywhere else. He'd rest. Start again. Besides, he had a softness for the inhabitants of that little blue green planet. They were always getting into some sort of trouble, always needing his help to get out of it. Yes. That was it. He'd make himself useful until he could find a way to set things right. Earth would be the starting point in his search for redemption. But first, rest.
He smiled sadly to himself and patted the TARDIS.
Rest.
Doctor's orders.
Author: Xsquotessuch
Pairing: The Doctor/Gallifrey
Rating: PG-13 for the use of melancholy and a single curse word.
Fandom: Doctor Who
Beta by the lovely tigertale7
Title is taken from a lovely song by Bob Dylan, mainly because I've not an original thought for a title in my body...That and I always kinda connect the Doctor and Dylan.
Summary: The Doctor keeps going. A quasi-historical account on the last of the Time Wars.
"I thought that you would realize that if I ran away from you,
That you would want me too, but I got a big surprise."
- I'll Be Back
The way he remembers it, he'd been much younger.
The TARDIS had been a lifeline cast into the water of time and the universe. It had saved him from going mad, and if it could save him, then it could save them too. Gallifrey's great bastard son and his antique time machine against the great army of the Dalek Empire.
He'd managed to delay the Time War with the "meddling" and "interference" that had gotten him exiled from Gallifrey in the first place. A year in one dimension, five hundred in another; incalculable death and destruction. The only hope to wake his people in time - to make them see the evil coming and prepare against it.
And the hope that they would take him back. That they would let him come home
******
His last chance. One spot in space and time. 20,000 Dalek ships poised to destroy Gallifrey.
If he could stop them first...
It really had been a brilliant plan. Improbable, unlikely to work. and so incredibly, dangerously last minute that by the time anyone figured out what had happened, the first thousand attacking ships had been destroyed. The Doctor, working as fast as the TARDIS controls would let him, had managed to land on and rig 9,989 Dalek ships to self-destruct. Ten more had exploded before the final order from the Dalek Emperor , that all firepower was to be directed toward Gallifrey, had been put into effect. The force used to destroy his home created a hole in the universe where the planet had been, sending a shockwave through the galaxy such that the stars themselves shuddered. The Dalek plan had backfired and the remainder of the Dalek fleet was being annihilated...a bittersweet and ironic victory.
It had been a lucky shot by a random Dalek. The burst of energy had caught him in the chest and thrown him into the TARDIS, just as the last of his sabotaged ships had come apart.
He had been younger then and it had been only sheer determination not to leave his time machine to be destroyed alongside everything else, that he managed to throw the right switches and set the coordinates before slipping into darkness.
"Maybe this will finally be the end of it," he thought as his eyes closed and he slipped to the floor.
***
He awoke in a new body. Tired. Weak. Cursing himself and his regeneration. By rights he should be dead; extinct like the people he couldn't save. It wasn't fair, but the universe never was, and he knew that. Had he not been so tired, he would have wept.
The Doctor ran a hand through his now close-cropped hair and sighed.
He'd go back to Earth. Didn't really have anywhere else. He'd rest. Start again. Besides, he had a softness for the inhabitants of that little blue green planet. They were always getting into some sort of trouble, always needing his help to get out of it. Yes. That was it. He'd make himself useful until he could find a way to set things right. Earth would be the starting point in his search for redemption. But first, rest.
He smiled sadly to himself and patted the TARDIS.
Rest.
Doctor's orders.