Chapter Text
They were standing in a Tardis, surrounded by the ruins of Gallifrey, and Ko Sharmus had just handed Rose's wife a bomb.
"So come on, Doc, what are you thinking?" Graham asked.
"One option left. I have to use the Death Particle on Gallifrey. On my home. On the Master and his new breed of Cybermen."
Ryan frowned. "You sure you wanna do that?"
Rose could feel the Doctor's dread and despair over their bond and took her hand, squeezing it gently. Their eyes met, but only briefly. "I'm sure I don't want to do that, but there's no alternative. If the Master and the Cybermen get off this planet, they'll be unstoppable. I started this with Shelley and the Cyberium, now I have to finish it."
Don't you dare.
"Alone."
Rose had seen it coming. The Doctor had always been a self-sacrificing idiot who didn't let anyone else make the hard choices. Rose knew she was just trying to protect them, but she still felt like she might faint from the mix of anger, exasperation and panic.
The Doctor, noticing, held onto her hand a little tighter. I'm sorry.
It might be easier to be angry at the Doctor if she wasn't so terribly sad .
"What?"
"The Tardis will take you back to Earth. All of you. You can settle in the 21st century."
Ravio stared at her. "You're not serious."
"Deadly."
You're not sending me away. Not ever again. Rose could feel the Doctor trying to apologise again, but before she could, Rose let go of her, crossing her arms in front of her body.
"What about you?" Ryan asked. "You detonate that thing, you'll die too."
"That's the way it has to be. And I would do that in a heartbeat for this universe. For you, my fam." She turned to her partner. "Rose -"
"Shut up. I won't let you."
"And then? What are we gonna do instead?"
"I don't know. But I won't let you. It's that easy."
"And sacrifice the universe instead?"
Rose closed her eyes. They were alike in many things. They were adventurous and courageous and deeply in love with each other. But the Doctor would sacrifice herself for anything and everything. Rose, on the other hand, would sacrifice everything just to be with her.
And in a moral argument, the Doctor always won.
"I'm coming with you then."
"No."
"Doctor, I lost you before and I'm not doing that again. Either you let me come or you're not going."
"Stop this."
"No!"
The Doctor's tone turned vicious. "Rose, this is not a discussion! Go with the others."
Rose's eyes flashed gold. "Try and see if you can stop me."
The Doctor stared. For a moment, she looked unsure.
But then the moment was over.
"I love you," she said and turned to go.
Yaz (and Rose thanked the gods for that girl) grabbed the Doctor by the arm. "We're not letting you go! You're not doing this."
"Get off me, Yaz!" She freed herself. "Please."
"Yaz, come on," Ryan said softly.
The Doctor gazed at all of them. "Live great lives." And then at Rose. "Live fantastic lives."
"And look at us," the Master was saying. "I have broken you and created a new race. And now? Now I shall conquer... everything. Oh."
The Doctor stepped closer. "You think you've broken me? You'll have to try harder than that. You've given me a gift. Of myself. You think that could destroy me? You think that makes me lesser? It makes me more. I contain multitudes more than I ever thought or knew. You want me to be scared of it because you're scared of everything. But I am so much more than you."
The Master grinned. "Wow. Oh. So, why are we here?"
The Doctor took the death particle out of her pocket, holding the detonator right in front of his face, thumb on the button.
"Oh, good, very good." The Master chuckled. "That's why I left it for you. Wondered if you would ... take out me, take out these lifeforms, all those bodies still in the vaults, every organic cellular life form on this planet ... forever. And yourself. Do that, would you?"
"Yes. This time, yes."
The Master's eyes darted over her shoulder. "Your precious Rose, too?"
The Doctor reached out for their bond, not willing to take her eyes off the Master, and yes, Rose was coming towards her. Confident, but heartbroken. She felt her hand slide into hers. Forever, Doctor. I meant it.
"You're gonna kill her? Go on, then. You were the start of all of this, now finish it!" the Master spat. "Come on, come on. Come on! Come on, come on! What have you got left anyway? You don't even know your own life. Look how low I have brought you. I have won, Doctor. You may have made me, but I have destroyed you. Become death. Become me. Come on. Come on, come on!"
Her home. Her childhood friend. The last remains of her entire species. Rose. Blowing up Gallifrey. Again.
She lowered the detonator.
She felt an odd emotion from her wife, but couldn't place it.
The Master looked honestly disappointed. "For just a moment there, I thought maybe. Argh. Oh Doctor, the universe will suffer for your weakness. I'll make sure of it."
"Not if I have anything to do with it!"
They whirled around. Ko Sharmus was standing in the doorway, looking ready to take on just about anything.
"Excuse me. No gate-crashers!"
"You can't still be here!" the Doctor cried. "I set the controls!"
"Like this one," he pointed to Rose, "I followed you out. They tried to stop me, but I wanted to be sure that these things are gone. And now I can be." He grabbed the bomb and tried to wrestle it out of the Doctor's grip.
"No," she tried.
But Rose pulled her away.
Ko Sharmus smiled triumphantly. "You didn't start this. I did. I was part of a resistance unit that sent the Cyberium back through time and space. Though obviously we didn't send it back far enough. So this is my penance. Mine to finish. My journey ends here. But the universe still needs you, so I suggest you run."
"But…"
Rose tugged her away. "Thank you," she told him.
"Run!"
"Doctor!" the Master cried, but they were already out.
"We shouldn't let him do this," the Doctor panted, but didn't hesitate as she pulled Rose along the corridors.
"You're right, but I'm not going back."
The Doctor stopped in front of an unassuming looking entrance and soniced it open. They stumbled into a tardis, the Doctor immediately starting the dematerialization sequence. Rose pulled the lever.
They were safe. It was going to be alright.
"Judoon Cold Case Unit. Fugitive: the Doctor. Sentence: whole of life imprisonment, maximum security facility."
It was not alright.