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Chapter Text

I       The betrayal

The Doctor was dying. In order to absorb the energy of the time vortex, every cell in his body was burning. Rose lay unconscious in his arms, unable to remember the outstanding and wonderful things she had done, or the fact that she had once been a goddess. Oh, his beautiful, brave, smart Rose.

And Jack. Once a time agent and conman, now a heroic guardian. He could feel that bright life — Rose turned him into a fixed point in time and space, a "mistake". Every Time Lord instinct in the Doctor screamed, reminding him that Jack was something that shouldn't happen. But he didn't mind. To be honest, he was even relieved that Jack was not dead. Might never die... okay, maybe something would go wrong, but nothing unacceptable. If the other Time Lords were still there, Jack would definitely be eliminated and wiped out by the Time Council, yet this was no longer a problem now.

The problem on hand... right, regeneration. The burning pain brought the Doctor's thoughts back to the present. He had to...had to leave. Although he felt sorry to Jack, he couldn't regenerate next to a fixed point in time and space. The fixed point would seriously affect the Time Lords — perhaps this was why the Time Lords were so active in eliminating these errors. The Doctor didn't even know if he could survive the regeneration process if he took Jack with him into the TARDIS, or worse... grown another head. The universe probably didn't need a two-headed Time Lord who could argue with himself.

Therefore, with an immensive guilt, the Doctor promised Jack in his heart that he would return to this game station within five minutes, at least five minutes in Jack's perspective.

Then he pressed the lever, activated the TARDIS.

◎◎◎

Jackie was roasting a turkey. Rose laughed while making Christmas wine. Based on the smell, the Doctor would say she put too much sugar in it. But who cares? Maybe this regeneration has a sweet tooth. He finally chose the clothes that felt right — such a conspicuous long coat made the Doctor wonder if his dressing sense was influenced by a specific captain from the 51^st century.

Speaking of that captain...the Doctor knew this would make a great Christmas present. Rose would be ecstatic about Jack's return. Now, neither Jackie nor Rose would notice if the TARDIS left for a few seconds, and his regeneration process was almost complete, and would not be affected by a fixed point. The Doctor quickly closed the door of the TARDIS and set the coordinates of the play station. He double checked the time — did have a record of getting the time coordinates wrong, and he definitely didn't want Jack to think that he had been abandoned in that terrible environment.

Just when everything was ready, a message with large red texts lit up on the display. The Doctor frowned. This was a message with a high priority — and if the priority was displayed, it means that this was a race or organization that he had encountered. He then clicked on the information.

Shadow Proclamation. The Shadow Proclamation asked him to go to Proclamation headquarter immediately. "Immediately" was a very vague term. After all, the headquarter of the Shadow Proclamation existed at the intersection of time and space, a balanced position where time runs differently. The Doctor thought briefly. He could pick up Jack first, come back and spend Christmas Eve with Rose, then go to the Shadow Proclamation — but the Proclamation might know what he did. It's not like he cares.

However, somewhere in his mind, an intuition told him that maybe he should go to the Proclamation first — without Rose, especially without Jack. Time agents and the Shadow Proclamation were not exactly friends, and Jack wasn't even a by-the-book time agent.

So the Doctor apologized to Jack again in his heart and entered the coordinates of the Shadow Proclamation.

◎◎◎

"Time Lord."

The representative of the Shadow Proclamation, a humanoid woman who calls herself Shadow Architect, called him in an almost contemptuous tone. The Doctor couldn't help but wrinkle his nose and almost retorted. This regeneration seemed to pay less attention to etiquette. But his reason stopped him. Even if the Time Lord had always been unafraid of the Proclamation, it would not be wise to annoy the largest rules administrator in the galaxy when he was the only one left.

If Gallifrey still existed, the Shadow Architect would never dare to speak to him in this tone.

"I believe the Shadow Proclamation called me all the way here for something important?" said the Doctor, failed to hold back the slight sarcasm in his tone, "It may surprise you, but I am indeed very busy."

"The mistake you made." said the Architect in an annoying, matter-of-fact, unceremonious tone, "You are the only Time Lord left, so there is no one else can deal with it. I know you have the technology to eliminate the mistake — the sooner this matter was resolved, the better.”

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." He had made many mistakes, but he really didn't know which one was enough to make the Shadow Proclamation bother him. If the Proclamation wanted to do something, there was no need to go through him.

"You are a Time Lord, and it was your responsibility to deal with fixed points in time." For the first moment, the Doctor did not realize what she was referring to. And the next second, he felt as cold as a bucket of liquid nitrogen pouring down from his head. "A fixed point in time and space was likely to cause the destruction of time and cause a lot of problems."

"No," said the Doctor immediately.

"No?" the Shadow Architect looked at him with plain, indifferent eyes.

"Ja... that fixed point does not need to be dealt with." The Doctor answered. Indeed, fixed points could be dangerous, but Jack was changed by the time vortex of the TARDIS - and he knew very well how sensitive the TARDIS was to time and space. When it helped Rose fulfil her wish, it would inevitably adjust Jack's timeline. Although Jack was still a somewhat weird fixed point, he was a safe existence. The Doctor himself could also feel it, "That fixed point was a product of the time energy. Time energy will not endanger its own stability. He is not in danger."

However, no matter what reason he had, the Doctor knew that the Shadow Proclamation would not give in.

"You have no evidence." Sure enough, the Architect stated unwaveringly and plainly, "To be safe, the fixed point must still be eliminated."

"I have no choice." this was also true, "like I said, that fixed point was very stable and non-threatening. And a stable fixed point also means that I cannot change it."

If Gallifrey was still there, the Time Council might have a way to erase Jack. But Gallifrey was gone — and that was probably the only time the Doctor felt relieved about that. There's really nothing he can do by himself.

"So," what's worse was that the Doctor also knew the way of the Shadow Proclamation very well, and he knew what the other person would ask for, "You'll bring him to us. We'll handle it."

In this case, "handle" meant permanent imprisonment, or exile to the void.

Thoughts quickly flew by in the Doctor's mind. He wouldn't say yes, of course. But he also had to make sure the Shadow Proclamation couldn't catch Jack on its own. The Proclamation should not have the technology to track fixed points — this was the job of the Time Lords, not the Proclamation. If they knew about Jack's existence right after it happened, then the Proclamation must have something that can track it.

"Okay." So he pretended to compromise, "But how did you track that fixed point? Maybe you can help me locate it."

"The instrument was recovered from the Time War. We repaired it." The Architect led him to the next room and showed a delicate Gallifreyan instrument, "After the Time Lords' extinction, we need a way to detect the stability of time and space."

"Exquisite." The Doctor put on his glasses — oh, they felt fit. It seems that this regeneration likes glasses, "Is there a blueprint?"

"Actually, we hope you can provide the blueprint." responded the Architect, "We only found this one and barely repaired it. You are the only remaining Time Lord. You can help us design and build such an instrument, and we can take over the work of maintaining the time and space."

The Doctor felt sick. The Proclamation wanted to become a new generation of Time Lords, taking charge of time and space. No matter how powerful the Shadow Proclamation was, they did not have the ability to see through the timeline like the Time Lords, and they had no idea of ​​how much precision and dangerous time manipulation needs. They wanted to play with a technology they didn't understand — which could only lead to disaster.

"Only this one? No blueprints or other equipment?"

"No."

"Very well."

Grabbing the sonic screwdriver in his pocket, the Doctor pointed the screwdriver at the instrument before the other person could react. He can see that the repair was not complete. A small mistake was enough. He short-circuited two wires that should never have touched, momentarily overloading the instrument. There was a loud bang, sparks burst out from the center of the instrument, and the subsequent high heat burned the entire delicate structure, damaging it to the point that no one could repair, study, or copy.

"What have you done!?"

For the first time, the Shadow Architect showed obvious emotions — anger and disbelief.

"Time is not a thing that you can easily grasp and judge." The disguise of cooperation was removed, and the Doctor replied coldly, "By the way, I will not bring you the fixed point either."

The other person's expression suddenly returned to indifference. However, it was this reaction that set off alarm in the Doctor's head.

"Then you are an accomplice in threatening the stability of the universe."

Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor caught a glimpse of the movement outside. Heavy, deadly footsteps. Hearing the explosion, a dozen of Judoons lined up outside, their guns already loaded.

There was no need to wait for the Architect to give the order to fire, he knew exactly what to do. Like every time he encountered a fatal crisis, the Doctor started to run.

"Stop him!"

The TARDIS parked close enough that he had a chance to rush through the door before the Judoons could stop him. However, before he could close the door, a laser shot through the gap and hit him behind the right shoulder. The Doctor cried out in pain, but used his last strength to force himself to fall back. The door was banged and shut tightly. He knew the Shadow Proclamation had no ability to break through the TARDIS door, so he allowed himself to slide back against the wall, sobbing silently in pain.

It wasn't just the pain of being shot — which really hurt, with the Judoon's laser burned the skin on half of his back, but it was more of the psychological grief. If the Shadow Proclamation could send him a message, they might have a chance to track him. They probably wouldn't bother hunting him down. The Doctor was very aware of his reputation and knew that the Proclamation did not have the strength, and probably the courage, to permanently oppose him. But they would be able to find Jack through him.

And he had just destroyed the only device the Shadow Proclamation had that could be used to locate Jack. This meant that he himself became the best hope for the Proclamation to find Jack.

In other words, for Jack's safety, he could never meet Jack. Never.

He must abandon Jack. Let him be abandoned in that hellish game station in the confusion of his newly resurrected life, thinking that he had been cruelly betrayed.

The Doctor knew what that feels like. Alone and abandoned. The worst part was, Jack is immortal and would be stuck in that state forever.

Jack would hate him. He would hate the Time Lord who betrayed and abandoned him. And that's the part that the Doctor cares least. Because he also hated himself. But he had no choice. He couldn't risk letting the Shadow Proclamation tracking down and imprisoning his friend.

Sitting paralyzed in the doorway of the TARDIS, the Doctor buried his face in his hands, shouting and sobbing in pain and rage. He could hear the Judoons banging hard on the door, trying to break the TARDIS' defence. Every sound reminded him why he had to turn his back on his friend.

The remaining regeneration energy in his body began to repair the burns on his back, and his skin became smooth and whole again. For some reason, this gave him the desire to tear his own skin apart, to replace his heart-wrenching grief with physical pain. But he didn't move. He just sat there, waiting numbly. Wait for all evidence to disappear.

He couldn't let Rose know, it would break her heart.

He could never see Jack.

When the last bit of regeneration energy finally eliminated the evidence, the Doctor stood up, numbly set the coordinates, wiped away his tears, and went to the dressing room to change into a new set of identical clothes. He could feel the TARDIS echoing his sorrow, the engines singing a soft dirge.

Then the Doctor returned to Christmas, put on a smiling mask, stepped out of the time machine, and abandoned Jack's soul in the depths of pain.

◎◎◎

He lost Rose.

It doesn't matter, the Doctor told himself, Rose is fine and alive. He's fine too and still has work to do.

When he landed in Cardiff, he didn't expect to see that face on the screen. The Doctor panicked. No, no, no, no, no, he couldn't see Jack. Jack couldn't get near him. It's too dangerous, too risky.

He pulled the lever to take off, but it was too late. His panic influenced the TARDIS, and the time machine knew they couldn't have contact with Jack, so she ran away, all the way to the end of the universe — a place beyond the reach of the Shadow Proclamation — just because she wanted to protect him.

To be honest, the Doctor expected Jack to punch him. But he didn't. The Doctor could only lie and conceal the existence of the Shadow Proclamation. He would rather Jack hated him. If Jack knew the truth, he might choose to leave — because Jack was such a good person and wouldn't want to implicate anyone. This would make Jack autonomously be alone, and possibly even willing to be captured. The Doctor couldn't tell him the truth.

And when Jack inevitably asks why the Doctor abandoned him, the Doctor knew the exact words to provoke him. "You are wrong." He knew how hurtful those words were. He needed Jack to hate him and stay away from him, away and safe.

But Jack laughed it off. "So you're just prejudiced," he replied jokingly. The Doctor screamed internally, wanted to deny. He didn't want to be hated, but at the same time he wanted to do his best to hurt the other person and make the other person stay away voluntarily. In the end, he was speechless.

Then the Master returned and everything went straight into hell again.

◎◎◎

In the end, the Doctor still did not dare to tell the truth. He just used hurtful words and false reasons to disable the other person's teleportation. With each teleport, the Shadow Proclamation could more likely be able to locate him. He couldn't let Jack take that chance.

And then the Doctor left, alone, knowing that he had failed Martha, he had failed Jack, he had failed everyone.

Chapter Text

II The Emergency

Today, the rift was unusually quiet. Ianto sat at the entrance, feeling a bit drowsy, daydreaming about having a day off. He probably should have known better than to tempt fate.

Someone entered through the door. The alarms didn't go off, so he wasn't immediately alert. After blinking a few times and shaking off his sleepiness, he looked up. His fight-or-flight instinct had apparently taken a nap with him, as it took him a full two seconds to truly grasp the situation and recognize the familiar face.

To be fair, he had only seen the other person briefly once before.

The moment Ianto realized who it was, he jumped over the table, ignoring the papers that scattered everywhere, and caught the limp body as it fell.

"Shit." This is bad, very bad. Ianto knew that the Doctor's appearance usually meant a crisis. But a Doctor covered in blood? A universe-level catastrophe. "Shit."

Before Ianto could do anything, the Doctor managed to open his eyes slightly, voice hoarse.

"Tell… tell Jack to run. Don't look back." Damn it, blood was bubbling on the Time Lord's lips. If he showed up in Cardiff, badly injured, and told someone who's immortal to run, the situation was worse than they could imagine. The Doctor's voice was weak, filled with primal pain, broken in a way that made it hard for Ianto to understand. He leaned in closer, catching the last few illogical numbers, "Three, one… eight, two…"

After that, the Time Lord's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed in Ianto's arms.

Ianto slammed his finger down on the emergency call button. "Jack, code blue, the really bad kind. I need you at the entrance!"

All he heard in response was a crash, no words. Given what he knew of Jack, that was the sound of him jumping up and sprinting through the entire base. Seconds later, the door swung open, and Jack, dressed in the military coat, kneeled beside them.

"Oh my God." Jack gasped. Even though he was used to crisis, nothing could prepare him for this. The Doctor was covered in blood. A deep wound on his shoulder almost all the way to the bones. It must have hit an artery because his brown coat was soaked, dyed red. His chest decorated with the marks of a laser burn—Time Lords had a much higher tolerance for energy attacks, otherwise that kind of injury would have killed anyone else. Similar burn marks dotted his face and legs, along with various deep cuts and abrasions. To be honest, Ianto felt a twinge of admiration that the Doctor was still able to "walk" into the center like this.

"Ianto, help me get him inside." Jack ordered, his voice tense and panicked. As they carefully lifted the injured alien, he shouted, "Gwen, call Martha!"

"What happened… oh!" Gwen appeared at the entrance, gasping as they passed, then quickly grabbed the phone. Ianto didn't bother listening to what she said; instead, he grabbed any medical supplies he could find, momentarily stopping to grab Jack's arm and making sure he listen.

"Listen, Jack, the Doctor told me something before he passed out." This caught Jack's attention. Ianto saw his tense face turn toward him, so he quickly but clearly recounted, "He said, 'Tell Jack to run, don't look back,' and then he gave me four numbers: three one eight two."

Jack paused for a breath, not responding, then suddenly looked down at the device on his wrist. According to their understanding, it was a time-space transporter that was currently not functioning.

"Martha said she'd come right away, but she'll need…"

"Where is she?" Jack interrupted Gwen.

"UNIT London headquarter. She'll take a flight…"

"No need. I'll bring her here." said Jack abruptly, causing confusion. Before they could ask, he input 3182 into the transporter, followed by a set of coordinates. In the next second, he vanished from the base.

"What… I thought he said his transporter was broken!"

"Help me, Gwen." Ianto swallowed his fear. He knew what this meant. He had heard that the Doctor didn't allow Jack to teleport through time and space, locking the vortex manipulator. But now, the Doctor had come in, covered in blood, returning Jack's ability to teleport and telling him to run. Ianto couldn't imagine what kind of crisis this is… no, he had to focus.

With Gwen's help, they removed the Doctor's tattered clothing. They had all heard numerous tales about this Time Lord—powerful, intelligent, the protector of Earth. Torchwood even considered him the most dangerous enemy in the world. But now he lay here, powerless and pale on the medical bed, which frightened Ianto even more.

He had never had a good impression of the Doctor. From Canary Wharf to the way he treated Jack, Ianto had never thought highly of him. But the sight before him made him feel a flicker of pity. Beyond the obviously severe injuries, there were terrifying bruises (his ribs were surely broken), and his back was a bloody mess, as if he had been dragged over a pile of broken glass. The Doctor looked like he had walked through an interstellar war or been chased by a dozen armed thugs, and Ianto began to wonder if he could survive such injuries.

At that moment, a silvery-blue flash brought Jack and Martha back.

"Oh my God, what happened!" Martha exclaimed, but wasted no time starting her examination. "Blood loss, five broken ribs, likely internal injuries—the liver or spleen might be ruptured. These burns likely extend internally as well. He needs surgery."

"Can he survive in this state? Surgery?" Jack regained his composure, yet Ianto could see the tight grip of his hands.

"I'm surprised he hasn't regenerated yet." Martha admitted. Ianto wasn't sure what that meant, but Jack's expression told him it was just like 'I'm surprised he isn't dead yet.'

"Do what you need." Jack quickly turned to Ianto and Gwen, "Ianto, Gwen, investigate where the Doctor came from. The TARDIS can help stabilize his condition, so finding it is our top priority. Also lookout for any potential threats, any possible culprits."

Ianto could only nod, and then he and Gwen grabbed their weapons and ran out of the base.

◎◎◎

The trail wasn't hard to follow. The Doctor's blood spread across Cardiff Bay, eventually stopping at a coastal area. They also checked for energy activity and found a faint teleport record over the ocean. It appeared the Doctor had used some sort of teleportation to throw himself directly from a distant place—in some part far in the universe—into the sea of Cardiff, then dragged himself to the Torchwood base. But this meant the TARDIS was still somewhere in the universe, unreachable.

Martha had Jack bring two assistants from UNIT London, and then they used every advanced alien device from Torchwood and UNIT to treat the Doctor's injuries. After ten long hours of surgery, they barely stabilized the Time Lord's condition.

"He can't even regenerate." When Ianto returned, Jack was hunched over in a corner, buried his face in the hands, on the verge of breaking down. He approached and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, feeling the other man's uncontrollable trembling as he spoke through his teeth, "They found trace of a needle—whoever the enemy is, knows his physiology well enough to use a poisoned syringe to attack him first, suppressing his regeneration. If… if he doesn't make it, he'll die, and it'll all be over."

"He'll make it." said Ianto. Yet even he knew how hollow that comfort sounded. However, it seemed to awaken their captain. Jack stood up with determination, wiping away the fear from his face. "Any leads?"

"None." Ianto shook his head regretfully, "The Doctor teleported in from the universe. A direct teleport, without the TARDIS. Low-frequency teleportation, nearly impossible to track the source. The only good news is that the enemy apparently hasn't found his location yet."

"I don't understand." muttered Jack, starting to pace the room, "He never told me to run. If there's a threat, he'd just tell me to prepare, to help protect the Earth. If someone was chasing him, he wouldn't lead the enemy to me. He's a self-sacrificing idiot, he would run far away and figure things out himself… I'm not his first choice for help. If there's a crisis we can't handle, he wouldn't be the first to tell me to run, unless…"

"It's targeting you." Ianto reached the same conclusion, "The enemy is looking for you."

"Through the Doctor?" said Jack incredulously, "I'm not that hard to find. I've settled in Cardiff for two hundred years, and they're coming through a time traveller to find me?"

"I guess we'll just have to… wait for him to wake up." If he wakes up.

"Get Gwen to dig out all the most powerful weapons." Jack clearly heard Ianto's unspoken thoughts, but he chose to pretend he hadn't, "We have to assume this is an extremely dangerous threat."

"If…," however, Ianto couldn't help but ask, "Jack, what if you ran? Just like the Doctor instructed? Your transporter is working again, right?"

"I won't leave." responded Jack predictably, cold and hard, "I won't leave him." His tone softened slightly, "I won't leave you, Ianto."

Ianto could only take a deep breath before turning to the pragmatic option.

"I'll go help Gwen prepare all the weapons."

◎◎◎

"I can't identify these injuries." After the surgery, Martha wearily sat by the Doctor's bedside, speaking to Jack. Doctor from UNIT had been sent back to London, and Ianto was at the computer trying to find out who their enemy might be, while Gwen was out cleaning up the blood trail that stretched across Cardiff. "The UNIT database couldn't match anything. That kind of energy injury… I can't quite say…"

"The Torchwood database can't identify any recognizable weapons either." Ianto added from his position at the computer.

"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but it's hard to say…" Jack pondered, then looked up and noticed Martha's expression, "You recognize it too?"

"I've seen it." Martha nodded, "I'm sure I have, but I don't know where." She paused, then added, "Maybe we should reach out to others that could help. Donna? Or Sarah Jane? Donna should be with the Doctor, right? And his doppelgänger?"

"Rose and his doppelgänger went back to the parallel universe." Jack had taken a long time to learn this. He had been furious, cursing the Doctor for not giving him a chance to say goodbye to Rose. Always that Doctor, indifferent to him. His tone carried a hint of bitterness, "As for Donna… I'm not sure."

"Donna Noble is currently at home, back to her regular work." Ianto came down the stairs, carrying two cups of tea. Gentle milk tea, "Should I contact her?"

"No." Jack gratefully accepted the tea.

"Jack, we might need help…"

"Martha, if there's really danger, do you really think the Doctor would warn me first?" Jack interrupted her, "Donna is at home, unprotected. Sarah Jane is capable, but it's just her and Luke. You and I have our own team and adequate equipment. We can protect ourselves. The Doctor knows that."

"Maybe the Doctor was seeking help." Martha frowned. Right, Jack still hadn't explained what had happened.

"No, he wasn't." said Jack, "If he was injured and needed help, he would have come to you. He knows you can handle his injuries and that UNIT would be glad to protect him." Before Martha could suggest other possibilities, he took a deep breath and said the most important thing, "Martha, the Doctor only said one thing before he passed out. He told me to run and don't look back, and then he gave me the activation code of the vortex manipulator."

Martha opened her mouth but immediately closed it again. He didn't need to explain. She quickly reached the same conclusion he had.

"This attack is only targeting you. Whoever the enemy is, their objective is you." She said quietly.

"I can't bring that kind of threat to Donna, or to Sarah Jane." nodded Jack, "UNIT might be willing to help, but I don't know…"

He turned to the Doctor, finding it hard to speak, "I'm immortal, he knows that. Martha, we know the Doctor runs, but that doesn't mean… running away. He never tells us to run away. Especially not me."

"Jack, you know I have to ask… do you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to hurt you?"

"Quite a few." It was a painful question, but he knew it had to come up at some point—and he had asked himself countless times, "But none are connected to the Doctor, none would come after me through him… and none are powerful enough to make him tell me to run. I just don't understand…"

"Alright." Ianto interrupted at that moment, taking away their empty cups, "You two, go to sleep. I'll keep an eye on the Doctor during the time."

"Ianto, I won't let…"

"He won't be alone." The other man easily guessed Jack's words, "I'll watch over him. There are no further leads at this time, and you two being exhausted won't help the situation."

Jack wanted to protest but knew it would be futile. So he complied and went to rest with Martha.

He knew this night wouldn't be peaceful.

Chapter Text

III     The Damaged

It hurts. Oh shit, it really hurts. It hurt more than being hit by a Dalek, it was like his whole body was screaming... It hurt more than being possessed by the sun.

Normally, he should have entered a coma in such a serious situation and repaired himself by slowing down all metabolism. But something interfered with the process. Near him, a glitch in time and space. It's his fault. He broke the rules by changing something he shouldn't have changed.

The Time Lord Victorious was wrong. In the end he was not a winner, but a coward.

He heard the plasma gunshots. The woman calmly walked into the house and shot herself without hesitation. Time was distorted beyond recognition by him, and then snapped back to its original position by that decisive suicide. Yet not without damage. A breaking point, a slight distortion. The time-damaged shock wave exploded at the moment the laser fired, and he bore the brunt.

The sound of the gunshot lingered in his mind, digging deeper and punishing him along with the damage caused by the impact. It hurt, it hurt all over his body—physiologically, and the sense of time hidden in his body, it hurt... The gunshot kept following him, over and over, and over and over again...

Whoops! The static laser gun sound repeated again. The Doctor woke up with a start, but his vision had not yet recovered. He yelled, trying to stop her suicide.

"No! Please! I was wrong, I did wrong..."

All the bones in his body screamed at his violent movements, and tearing pain shot through his shoulders, chest, and thighs. This made him whimper, gasp, and take painful breaths. But the fixed point did not disappear, on the contrary it approached. The error in time and space burned him, settling like a branding iron on his forearm. He cried out, used his remaining strength to shrink back, fighting against the injuries all over his body, while begging incoherently for mercy. He was wrong, he should not have changed the fixed point, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...

"Get out of here!" a vague voice shouted, an unfamiliar voice, "go find her!"

The mistake retreated. The Doctor sobbed and fell back into darkness.

"Doctor? Can you hear me…"

He didn't hear it.

◎◎◎

Jack, not surprisingly, woke up just a few hours later to a nightmare. He gasped for air as if he had just been resurrected, panicking, and grabbing for any support with his hands. For a long time, it had been easier to have Ianto by his side when he woke up like this, holding him carefully and comforting him. But there was no Ianto today, which made Jack particularly scared.

Where is Ianto? Could he be in danger? What happened...

Sanity returned. Jack felt the coldness in his stomach. Ianto is fine, it's the Doctor…

He jumped up, put on his coat, and noticed that he had only slept for three hours. Enough. Walking into the base, little had changed. Ianto was sitting next to the Doctor's bed, with the computer on his lap, working on something intently. Hearing the noise, he raised his gaze and stepped away from his seat.

"He hasn't changed much. I'll make coffee." Two very concise sentences.

Jack nodded, sat down in the seat where Ianto's residual warmth was still present, and looked at the pale, unconscious Doctor. It's not that he's never seen the Doctor in crisis or that he's helpless, but damn... this is simply worse than the Doctor being forced to age.

"What happened?" murmured Jack, gently pulling the doctor's quilt, "When will you jump up and proudly tell us all the dazzling scientific terms?"

The Doctor didn't answer, of course. Jack sighed, lowered his head and fiddled with the vortex manipulator. He hadn't had a good calibration in a long time, and if a real crisis was coming, this thing would be very useful. He first called up the self-diagnosis, entered the current space-time coordinates as a reference, and then pressed the run button. The controller made a plasma sound and entered the program. At that precise moment, the Doctor opened his eyes and shouted.

"No!" The pain in the voice made Jack wince. The eyes of the originally unconscious man widened, yet they did not really focus, but stared at a certain point in the void. "Please! I was wrong! I did wrong..."

He struggled and twisted, forcing Jack to reach out and clamp down on his flailing left arm.

"Doctor! It's Jack, you're safe..."

The moment he touched the Time Lord's skin, the other party let out a painful, high-pitched scream. Jack didn't even think to remove his hand. He was horrified, having never seen this man in such a damaged state. Another hand grabbed Jack's arm fiercely and dragged him back. Jack stared at the spot where he had just touched the Doctor—the pale skin turned dark purple in an instant, like a bruise or a burn. The clear fingerprints made it impossible for him to deny that he had hurt the other person...

"Jack!" Ianto grabbed his shoulder hard, forcing him to focus, "Jack, go find Martha. Get out of here and go find her!"

Jack nodded blindly, his gaze still lingering on the newly formed bruise. The Doctor held on to the incomplete bones in his body and cowered in fear and panic to the corner of the bed—the corner farthest from Jack, crying and apologizing messily, over and over again.

I was wrong, I shouldn't have changed the fixed point, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...

Jack turned his head and ran, unsure whether he was running to find Martha or to escape the harm he had caused.

◎◎◎

Ianto knew it was wrong, yet he couldn't help but curse the Doctor in his heart. Cursing him for hurting Jack in the past, cursing Jack for forgiving him so easily, and cursing him for showing up like this and messing everything up again. But the professional part of his mind had already analysed the situation at hand. He and Gwen touched him while removing the Doctor's bloody tattered clothes, but the Time Lord was unharmed. Martha and the alien specialists from UNIT had also given him surgery, only Jack...

He carefully touched the other person's exposed ankle with his fingertips, but there was no reaction. The Doctor was still begging and apologizing, though it seemed that he was no longer talking English. It was a language that Ianto had never heard before. It was very beautiful, and there was something particularly poignant when it was spoken by the Doctor's broken voice. Regardless, deciding that the touch seemed safe, Ianto grabbed the other man to stop him from further aggravating his injuries and whispered comforting words.

"You're in Cardiff, you're safe, Doctor," said Ianto gently, carefully pressing down on his uninjured part to stop him from struggling, "You're safe."

He's not good at this, really. In particular, this patient almost fell into the category of 'enemy' in his mind. Ianto knew that the Doctor had saved the Earth countless times, but he could never forget what he had done to Jack. The cruel abandonment.

Fortunately, he didn't have to do this for long. Martha quickly approached and took over Ianto's job. She grabbed the Time Lord's shoulders and began to whisper comfort to him. Ianto couldn't help but step back with a sigh of relief, noticing that Jack was standing far away. He walked up to him. Jack's hands were half raised in front of him, as if he didn't know where to place his arms. Ianto grabbed him gently and took the other man's hand into his own.

"He said I was 'wrong' and that he couldn't stand my presence, but I never thought it would really...I would really hurt him. No wonder he left..." said Jack brokenly, "I didn't know..."

"Shh, Jack, it's not your fault." Ianto squeezed his hand, cursing the only remaining Time Lord in his heart. 'wrong'? 'Unbearable existence'? Jack loved the Doctor, and the Doctor hurt him like this?

Jack took a deep breath and suddenly returned to his calm captain appearance.

"Where's Gwen?"

That tone made Ianto's heart ache. He knew that Jack was blaming himself endlessly, but he felt that he was not worthy of any comfort and devoted himself to work. Yet he decided to put his worries aside for now. They still didn't know when or what form an alien invasion will take.

"She went back for a rest." He replied, blocking the other person's worries at the same time, "Don't worry, Jack, I just rested—Gwen and I took turns. She contacted Andy and UNIT to make sure UNIT knew about the possibility of an alien invasion. And warned Cardiff police to be on the lookout for anything unusual. I have all possible weapons on file readied."

They were silent, knowing that this was the best preparation they could do, then turned to look in the direction of the hospital bed. The situation seemed to be under control, for Martha straightened up, looked back at them, then walked over.

"He fell asleep. I increased the amount of sedative to make sure he won't hurt himself." The female doctor combed her fingers through her messy hair, "He briefly regained consciousness, said some words, and kept apologizing. Only the first sentence was in English...I think the rest are in Gallifreyan, it's hard to tell, he'd never used his native language in front of us."

"What did he say?" asked Ianto.

Martha pursed her lips seriously," he said, 'It's my fault, they can find him now. Tell him to run, Martha, tell Jack to run. I'm sorry, it's all my fault.' Then he started using other languages, lose their coherence. "

"...Damn it." Ianto couldn't help but say, while Jack's face was neutral and blank.

"Jack, have you considered..."

"What?" Jack seemed to respond reflexively to Martha, "Jack, this is not your fault, but... maybe you want to go to UNIT London?"

"Do you want me... to leave?" The blank tone was so blank that it was worrying.

"Jack, the Doctor thinks something deadly is hunting you—even deadly to you. UNIT London may be safer—for both of you. You are protected at UNIT and we will protect the Doctor here, help him recover..."

"Because my presence will not be of any benefit to his healing process." said Jack dryly, "Is this what you want to say?"

"No, Jack..." Martha winced.

"No, I understand that my presence will hurt him." Jack's tone was still frighteningly blank, "I will leave now, I will go to London."

"Jack, wait..." Before Ianto could finish speaking, the Immortal had quickly pressed the teleport on his hand and disappeared.

They could only sink into silence in the empty Torchwood base, helpless.

"If..." After a while, Martha finally cleared her throat and said, "If this can make the Doctor wake up faster, maybe he can tell us what happened. I believe that's not the case..."

"He abandoned Jack, Martha. He hurt him," said Ianto grimly, "over and over again. What makes you think this time is any different?"

Chapter Text

IV     The Danger

Martha had never agreed with the Doctor's past with Jack. She understood better than anyone what it felt like to be abandoned by the Doctor—though he had never truly abandoned her, the difference was minimal. He had never really 'seen' her, he let her become a secret weapon, traversing countless continents alone to undo the Master's deeds.

That year, Jack had become a good friend of hers, likely due to their shared experiences and similar circumstances.

Asking Jack to leave pained her. She knew it would hurt him. Somewhere in her selfishness, she hoped for Jack's help and support, wishing she didn't have to bear the weight of a broken Doctor alone, cleaning up his mess.

Martha swallowed hard, forcing her thoughts back to the present. The Doctor undoubtedly believed Jack was in mortal danger—the kind of danger that even a person who couldn't die could face. Jack was right, the Doctor wouldn't prioritize Jack's safety—that is the cruel truth. So why… why does he think Jack is the only one in danger?

The Doctor had also mentioned a fixed point in time. Perhaps that related to Jack being a fixed point as well. But the ways of time were never a secret the Doctor shared, not the information a Time Lord would disclose. Usually, the Doctor would tell them what could be changed and what couldn't, and they could only accept it without question. Until the Doctor woke up, this was a problem that wouldn't be solved.

So Martha turned her attention to the Time Lord's wounds. The cuts were not serious after stitching, but broken bones would heal slowly—thankfully, as far as Martha knew, Time Lords healed much faster than humans. The burns… Martha felt a flicker of recognition. Not with UNIT, so it was likely from the time spent traveling with the Doctor.

Who used burning lasers? Daleks? No, Martha quickly dismissed that; Daleks wouldn't leave such wounds. Their weapons were corrosive, killing all living cells, but not burning. Sontaran? But UNIT was well aware of Sontaran weaponry. After the last Sontaran invasion, they had thoroughly updated all their data. Martha briefly thought of the Master's laser screwdriver, but then shivered and shook her head. The laser screwdriver had been destroyed by the Doctor.

"I've never seen this kind of wound," said Ianto beside her, guessing her thoughts. "Only you and Jack recognize it, so it's not Torchwood, not UNIT, and probably not a species that has visited Earth."

Martha sighed.

"I haven't seen that many species… but I can't think of any that match. I guess we'll just have to wait."

◎◎◎

The next day and a half brought little change. After Jack left, the Doctor fell into a deep sleep. Healing coma, according to UNIT's files. This seemed to help him recover from his injuries. The downside was that he couldn't wake up to provide any information.

Gwen returned to the base, caught up on the situation, and helped them track any useful information. There wasn't much progress, so they resigned themselves to handling ordinary rift incidents, driving some vicious weevils back into the sewers.

Meanwhile, Jack checked in via video call every few hours. As far as they knew, he was assisting UNIT with investigations and dealing with some small alien incidents, or helping file some data. As a time agent from the 51st century, he had encountered some species unfamiliar to UNIT.

Usually in bed, Martha mused.

UNIT satellites scanned the Earth's airspace every half hour, reaching nearly to Mars. For advanced species in the universe, such a distance might offer no more than half an hour's warning, but it was at least a precaution. Around the third morning, the satellite detected an anomalous signal.

"ETA twenty minutes," from the video call, UNIT had mobilized and was on alert, Jack surrounded by busy agents rushing past him. "Target is… Cardiff. Martha?"

"No changes," Martha shook her head. "I don't think he'll wake up in time." This was something they couldn't change. Instead, she focused on the potential threat. "That spaceship… its shape…"

There was still some distance, so the image wasn't clear, just a scanned outline. However, it was obvious the ship's hull was slightly elongated, a bit like… a cylinder. Martha frowned, that looked like…

"Like a Judoon ship," she and Jack said simultaneously, then looked up, exchanging a brief surprised glance.

"Judoon?" asked Gwen. "Not a species documented in Torchwood."

"Intergalactic police, the bad news kind," said Jack, while Martha added, "The Doctor calls them intergalactic thugs… wait." She slapped her forehead. "Of course, Judoon! Their weapons are burning lasers that can disintegrate a human in seconds. But the Doctor isn't human. He has far greater resistance to energy. I've seen the burn pattern from their weapons match the Doctor's injuries before! Since I knew the Judoons' weapons would completely disintegrate their enemies, I never thought of that species. Now it seems obvious."

Jack frowned. His expression was pained, then he turned to Gwen and Ianto.

"Gwen, Ianto, put away all weapons."

"What?" asked Ianto, surprised.

"They're police. Even if they're unreasonable police, they're still police," replied Jack seriously. "Plasma guns, those would work on them, so be prepared. But we absolutely cannot strike first."

"They'll be looking for intergalactic criminals," Martha added, "yet they have no authority on Earth. Remember when the hospital was moved to the Moon? That was because the Moon is neutral territory, allowing them to enforce the law." She paused before continuing, "I was there, in that hospital."

"Listen, Ianto." Jack raised his hand in the video call, gesturing, "Judoon usually act under the authority of the Shadow Proclamation. That's the largest law enforcement unit in the universe, like an intergalactic United Nations—armed with powerful forces and technology. We mustn't do anything that could be seen as an act of war. Our best hope is to invoke legitimate law, questioning the legality of their actions. I need you to go to the archives, find files under the 'Shadow Proclamation' label. There's a translator in my drawer, dark blue with a small screen. It's hard to use, and there are too many Shadow Proclamation documents, but find the ones that are most favourable to us, understood?"

Ianto nodded and immediately turned to carry out the task.

"Martha, I need you to confirm with UNIT that they understand this is a 'diplomatic' situation and not an invasion. My words don't carry enough weight with UNIT."

Martha nodded, pulling out her phone in the corner to urgently contact UNIT's superiors.

"Gwen, keep this line open. If the Judoons land outside the base, let me know immediately. Ensure the base's anti-teleportation system is functioning properly, we don't need to end up at the Torchwood base on the Moon." Jack added, "Contact the police to evacuate the surrounding area. If necessary, I'll teleport back to negotiate in person." He let out a self-deprecating hum. "Either way, my return might force the Doctor to wake from his healing coma. He could help us out of this intergalactic political farce."

"Farce?" asked Gwen, puzzled, as she dialled Andy.

"Judoon, their enforcement procedures are basically a farce," replied Jack. "Stole a loaf of bread? Good, a crime in action, death penalty, laser gun."

"Shit." Gwen cursed, just as the call connected. "Andy, listen, evacuate the harbour area…"

◎◎◎

As expected, the Judoons landed right outside the base. They seemed clear about what they were looking for. A row of enormous soldiers in black armour stepped off the ship in formation. Only one ship had landed, two others hovered in the Earth's atmosphere.

Jack watched from the screen. Ianto and Martha stood bravely in front of the Judoons, Earth's uncompromising defenders. Gwen stayed in the base with the Doctor, relaying the monitoring footage to UNIT. All UNIT leaders stood beside Jack. He had refused to teleport anyone to Cardiff, so none of them could arrive in time. Negotiating by Torchwood Three was their only option.

"According to Article 18 of the Shadow Proclamation, the Judoon have no authority to operate on a Level 5 planet," said Ianto steadily as the Judoons stopped before them. "Earth, Torchwood Three, Ianto Jones. We demand to know the reasons, purpose, and legality of this action."

If Jack didn't know the truth, he would never believe Ianto had just opened the intergalactic law record book twenty minutes prior. He spoke with such confidence, as if he were a lawyer well-versed in statutes.

The Judoon in the middle stepped forward, removing its black helmet to reveal a brown, wrinkled rhino head. Ianto and Martha didn't flinch, as if unfazed. The Judoon captain then used an instant translator to scan Ianto, connecting it to the armor's central console. When it spoke, its deep, gravelly voice carried English with a strong alien accent.

"Special Regulation 51. Judoon special arrest operation. Level: Omega, applicable under special enforcement authority."

Jack could see Ianto struggling to respond. No matter how clever he was, he couldn't truly read through thousands of laws in twenty minutes. And…

"Last time I checked, there were only fifty Special Regulations," Jack whispered to the UNIT officers beside him, explaining, "The Special Regulations are the most paradoxical, vague, and unreasonable laws. I remember them because they're particularly stupid." He then pressed the communication button. "Ianto, repeat exactly what I say."

Ianto complied.

"According to the record information, there is no 51^st regulations. We have the right to request a reading and understanding of the exact content of the Judoon-referenced law."

"Request confirmed. The request complies with regulations, and the clause will be read," responded the Judoon. "Special Regulations fifty-one, authorized by the Shadow Proclamation. Involving threats to the stability of timelines, the Shadow Proclamation may unconditionally enter any domain and take any necessary actions to eliminate the threat, in order to maintain the safety of time and space."

"Jack, do you think they mean…" said Gwen.

"Me. Yes, I think so," replied Jack, raising curious and confused among the UNIT officers. "But that's nonsense. The Shadow Proclamation has no jurisdiction over time stability."

"The Shadow Proclamation have no jurisdiction over time stability," Ianto heard their conversation and turned to the Judoon, requesting, "There are no existing threats to time stability here."

"Time stability, responsibility of the Time Lords," stated the Judoon. "No Time Lords left in the universe."

"Shit," Jack cursed. "That's the source of the fifty-first Regulations, created after the Time War. No wonder I haven't heard of it."

"There are still Time Lord in the universe," Martha challenged. "Time Lord have not gone extinct."

"Time Lord, known as the Doctor. Classified as a criminal, determined to be unqualify in maintaining time stability. Charges include distorting the fixed point of Earth's calendar year 2059, causing fluctuations in the timeline. Additional charges include harbouring high-priority criminal and damaging Shadow Proclamation property."

"Oh, Doctor, what have you done?" Jack muttered. He didn't know what the fixed point in 2059 was, but he boldly guessed who the high- priority criminal was.

They were unsure how to respond. This was a regulation that the Shadow Proclamation had already passed, and violating it would likely trigger a declaration of war from the Judoons. Worst of all, the Judoons had already lost their patience.

"Regulations read. Starting scans for non-human. Any further interference will be regarded as the harbouring of a criminal, sentence: death."

The Judoon captain put his helmet back on and led the troops toward the base. Martha and Ianto were forced to step aside, watching helplessly as the deadly intergalactic police approached the still-unconscious Doctor.

"Jack? Jack? Tell me you have a plan," asked Martha desperately in a low voice. He swallowed nervously, glancing at the UNIT officers beside him.

"…If we obstruct, it could lead to a declaration of war," Colonel Mace spoke in a serious and heavy tone. "The Doctor is our important ally, but the risk… is too high."

"You're going to let them arrest the Doctor?" Jack looked unbelievably at the entire silent UNIT, the officers deliberately blank-faced. "Have you seem the state the Doctor arrived? His injuries? This would kill him!"

No one answered. A few turned their gaze away in shame but remained silent.

"…Fine. Fine," Jack speak through his teeth. "If you decide to do nothing…"

"Jack?" Ianto, always the first to sense something wrong and the one Jack felt most sorry for, said, "Jack, what are you planning to…"

"I'm sorry, Ianto," he said with difficulty, quickly adding before he regretted it, "Don't follow me, don't come looking for me."

"Jack, wait…"

He steeled himself and pressed the teleportation button. In the next moment, he stood on the sunny Cardiff coast, facing the Judoon troops who suddenly stopped and raised their weapons. Jack raised his hands, feeling his coat flutter behind him.

"Jack Harkness, I believe I know who you are looking for," he said. In the distance, Ianto and Martha stared at him in fear but dared not approach.

"Scan, classified, human."

"Yes, I am human, a former time agent," Jack asserted as confidently as he could. "The high-priority criminal you're looking for has a higher priority than the Doctor, right? I have information on your target."

"Information confirmed. Speak."

"One condition," Jack inhaled. "Revoke the Doctor's charges. He is a Time Lord and could not possibly do anything to endanger the timeline. His charges are minor. I can hand over the high-risk criminal you want directly to you, as a condition for releasing the Doctor."

"Condition rejected. Further evidence required."

"I can immediately hand you your primary target for verification. If it doesn't match, you can rescind my condition. If the target is correct, you release the Doctor and leave the Earth, and no one else will be harmed."

"Jack, no!" In the distance, Ianto shouted. Martha was holding him back from behind, stopping him from rushing toward Jack.

The Judoons were silent, seemingly pondering. Five seconds later, the captain replied, "Condition accepted. Now hand over the Omega target."

"Right in front of you," Jack swallowed nervously. "I am the person you're looking for."

A series of clicking sounds indicated the Judoons adjusting their weapons to maximum firepower. The captain then pulled out an additional black device to begin scanning.

"Scan complete. Temporal energy, highly anomalous. Probability of being the Omega target, 80%. Sentence, permanent confinement."

Confinement? Jack had expected the death penalty so he could fool the Judoon without extra loss. But confinement meant that he…

Suddenly, a Judoon in the back threw a metal disc at his feet. The intense electric current caused Jack to lose his ability to think instantly. The explosion of pain made him scream, dropping to the ground. The current formed some sort of net, immobilizing him while paralyzing all his limbs with high energy. He couldn't even breathe, convulsing, crying out in agony…

In the next moment, everything stopped. The current vanished, leaving Jack with lingering phantom pain. His head drooping to the ground. He heard Ianto and Martha's voices—closer this time, calling anxiously. There was another sound, a familiar buzzing, it was…

Jack turned sharply, disregarding the dizziness caused by the residual current. The Doctor stood at the door, cradling his left arm against his stomach, pale and leaning against the entrance of the base. He held his sonic screwdriver in his right hand, still aimed at the electric device on the ground. As Jack looked at him, he put the screwdriver back into his pocket with a stiff movement.

"You idiot," said the Doctor, his voice hoarse. Gwen was anxiously standing behind him. "They didn't know the target's identity before. You just had to jump out and reveal yourself."

Then, facing the weapons of the Judoons, the Doctor stepped forward. He seemed to be deliberately displaying his confidence, yet anyone could see his limping steps, the way he cautiously wrapped his left hand around his abdomen, and the tight fist in his right hand from the pain. Jack instinctively wanted to step forward to help but at the last moment remembered he might harm him in some way and quickly withdrew his hands. The Doctor didn't look at him. Instead, he stood beside him, facing the fully armed intergalactic police.

"Under intergalactic law section sixty-two, paragraph eight, neither I nor he are current offenders. We demand a strict appeal."

"Rejected. Special Regulations do not apply to appeal criteria."

"No," replied the Doctor sharply, his voice more piercing than Jack remembered. His face regained some color, likely due to the adrenaline. "The Proclamation claims we endanger the timeline. But the truth is, I am the only one qualified to determine this. Even under special clauses, arrests without evidence are not legal. We have the right to a due process appeal."

The Judoons fell silent again, likely contemplating. Jack knew the Doctor was right. When it came to intergalactic laws, almost no one could win a debate against the Doctor.

"Request accepted. You will enter temporary detention, any hostile action will result in death penalty," the captain finally responded. "The suspects will be disarmed."

Two Judoon soldiers stepped forward to begin searching them violently. Jack didn't care that everything on him was being taken out and thrown into a case. Instead, he worriedly watched the Doctor. The latter closed his eyes during the search, each rough contact causing him to gasp in pain. Twice he seemed on the verge of falling due to the force, and Jack almost couldn't resist supporting him. But in the end, he endured the search, standing unsteadily, his forehead damp with cold sweat, his face returning to a paper-like pale.

"The suspects will accompany back to the Shadow Proclamation." Two more soldiers were already behind them, laser guns pressed against their backs.

"Wait!" Martha shouted. Jack's heart sank. Don't do anything stupid, Martha…

She and Ianto had been blocked by the Judoons when they tried to run over. Thank goodness they hadn't shot directly. Now Martha was in front of the soldiers, yelling to attract attention, "Look at him, look at the Doctor. He's injured, he won't survive the interrogation process. I'm his doctor, I demand to accompany him."

"Martha, no…" the Doctor protested softly between gasps, but no one listened.

"And me," Ianto added, ignoring Jack's warning, "Don't you dare, Ianto Jones."

"I have a psychic connection with Jack. Special circumstances, influenced by telepathic aliens," he said confidently, though completely fabricated. "I have part of his memories and traits. Together, we form the complete Omega target. The 80% match you scanned is because part of him has been transferred to me."

"Information accepted. Two additional accompanying suspects will be disarmed."

Just like before, two soldiers came forward to search them. Taking this opportunity, Jack looked back and saw Gwen still standing at the entrance of the base, her mouth agape, watching the situation unfold with slight fear. Meeting his gaze, Gwen's expression suddenly turned resolute, and she nodded.

I'll take care of Cardiff while you're away. In the former policewoman's eyes, Jack saw that message. He gently nodded in response.

Once the search was complete, Martha immediately came to the Doctor's side, grasping his arm as a support. The Doctor inhaled sharply, transferring some of his weight to her, whispering in a barely hearable voice, "That was extremely foolish, Martha Jones."

"Yeah, yeah, but you would never make it without me," retorted Martha dryly.

"You know, after this is all over, I'm going to be furious," said Jack to Ianto, who replied succinctly, "Likewise."

Then they were taken onto the ship, heading into space.

Chapter Text

V      The Deep Space

The Doctor barely held on until the moment he entered the temporary detention cell, just as the iron door slammed shut.

With the sound of the Judoons locking the steel lock, the Time Lord's legs gave up, and he collapsed to the floor, dragging Martha down with him. Ianto rushed over to help, while Jack resisted the urge to get closer.

"Jack, I need your coat," said Martha, urging him to move and take off his coat. She rolled up Jack's long coat to use as a pillow and adjusted the Doctor into a relatively comfortable position, lying on one side of the cell. During this time, the Doctor could only breathe painfully, unable to utter a single word.

Once he was settled, they silently found corners to sit in, waiting for the Time Lord to catch his breath. They all had many questions but knew that he needed a little time to regain his strength. Frankly, if the Doctor had fallen asleep right then, Jack wouldn't have been surprised.

About three minutes later, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

"This is... my fault. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack shook his head, finding himself at a loss for words in response. In contrast, Martha gently asked, "What happened, Doctor?"

"I changed a fixed point in time," the Doctor explained in a somewhat weak voice. "That was... arrogant, foolish. I thought I could dictate the rules of time and space, but I was just a arrogant idiot."

"That fixed point affected Jack's... situation?" asked Ianto hesitantly.

"No," the Time Lord paused for a few seconds before continuing, "the Shadow Proclamation has been searching for Jack for a while now. But they lacked the technology to track a fixed point. It hasn't happened in so long, the Time Lords... they would never allow such a thing. The Proclamation... they lack experience."

"And what you did gave the Shadow Proclamation an example?" asked Jack. The Doctor closed his eyes and nodded slightly, "I shouldn't... I shouldn't toy with time. Because of that, they can now locate fixed points in time. They can finally track you, Jack."

"I don't understand," said Jack. "I may not be a good person, but I'm sure I haven't done anything that would warrant an Omega-level investigation from the Shadow Proclamation."

"Omega-level? What is that?" asked Ianto.

"Blowing up three planets with Earth size would make you an Alpha-level criminal. Omega is a step above Alpha," replied Jack succinctly, gaining an 'oh' from Ianto. He then looked at the Doctor, waiting for an answer. But the Time Lord didn't respond. Instead, he continued, "I made a mistake. The Shadow Proclamation... they want to replace the Time Lords. They want to be the masters of time. This gives them an excuse to declare me guilty. They are hunting me, wanting to capture me."

"From the looks of your injuries, it doesn't seem like a 'capture,'" Martha pointed out, earning a short, pained chuckle from the Doctor. "Our negotiations got a bit... out of hand."

"But they just agreed to your detention. Why didn't you invoke the lack of evidence earlier?" Jack questioned. "Judoons won't overturn an already issued verdict."

"That only applies to you, Jack," the Doctor said with a pale, strangely affectionate smile. "Do you really think they would give me a chance to appeal? After firing twenty shots at me?"

Jack's eyes widened in understanding. "You knew you would be executed? Damn it, why did you step in? Why let the Judoons catch you?"

"I didn't say execution," the Doctor closed his eyes again, breathing heavily. "I'm too valuable to them. The Shadow Proclamation wants to replace the Time Lords, they need my knowledge, my technology."

"You still haven't answered the question," Ianto pointed out. Jack knew Ianto didn't have a good impression of the Doctor, so his directness didn't surprise him. "Why does the Shadow Proclamation want to arrest Jack?"

The Doctor fell silent, keeping his eyes tightly closed. They all knew he was avoiding the question. Right now, he was injured, and they couldn't force him to speak. This led to an awkward, stagnant silence in the cell. Martha began to wipe the Doctor's cold sweat with a handkerchief, but aside from ensuring he was as comfortable as possible, she had no other means of treatment. Ianto leaned gently against Jack, absentmindedly stroking Jack's forearm. Jack stared at the wall, constantly pondering what he had done that was worth being hunted by the Shadow Proclamation but to no avail.

After about twenty minutes, perhaps unable to endure the silence any longer, Martha asked, "How long until we arrive?"

"About two days," none of them expected the Doctor to answer. Jack thought he had drifted off to sleep. They looked down to see the Time Lord's eyes slightly open, still fatigued. "The Judoon's teleportation technology isn't particularly advanced. It takes about two days from Earth to the Shadow Proclamation."

"Can you enter a healing coma in this condition?" asked Martha. "Two days in this cell... won't help with your situation."

The Doctor was silent for a moment and then gently shook his head.

"I can't, sorry."

"Is it because of me?" Jack suddenly blurted out. He had been thinking about this for several days. To this, the Doctor averted his gaze, not responding. Yet in the current situation, this action equalled to a confirmation.

"So you weren't exaggerating," said Jack bitterly. "You can't stand my presence, literally. Every time I touch you, it hurts you, doesn't it?"

"No, it's not like that," replied the Doctor hoarsely.

"I hurt you a few days ago. A slight touch was enough to leave serious bruises."

"It's not what you think..."

"Then what is it, Doctor?" Jack's tone suddenly became stern. "Just tell me the truth, let me understand?"

"Only when I'm injured," the Doctor finally admitted. "Normally, I have enough energy to protect myself. But when I'm injured... Jack, you shine too brightly, like a spotlight behind my eyelids. I can't enter a healing coma around you."

Jack felt defeated in an instant.

"So that's why you don't want to be around me. You've been eager to leave every time. I understand now."

"No, it's not like that, it's..." the Doctor denied, but the rest of his half-sentence faded in his hesitation. In the end, he simply said, "Yes, it is like that."

"So what happens next?" asked Ianto, changing the subject.

"Jack and I will be imprisoned," the Doctor replied, "or permanently exiled to the void. And you two will be released back to Earth after proving your innocence. But you, Ianto Jones, lied to the Judoons and may be held for an extra month for obstructing the arrest process."

"Is that it? No old-fashioned torture?"

"They are the Shadow Proclamation, Ianto," said Jack, suddenly sounding very tired. "They won't break the law—at least not openly. That would damage their reputation. Life imprisonment is just plain life imprisonment."

"There must be something we can do," Martha insisted. "Jack, life imprisonment for you means..." her voice trailed off.

"Forever, I know."

"There are some..." the Doctor hesitated for a moment, "negotiation terms. It's the simplest option. But you probably won't like it. Honestly, I probably won't like it."

They silently looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"If I agree to cooperate and develop time travel technology, I might be able to prove that Jack poses no danger in time," the Doctor admitted.

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Ianto, but Jack shook his head, "No, I won't agree."

"Aren't the Shadow Proclamation an official organization?" asked Martha. "Why is this bad?"

"Because the Shadow Proclamation doesn't have enough understanding of time," Jack shot a glance at the Doctor, seeing the Time Lord had the same thought. "I was a time agent for a long time, but it wasn't until I defected and travelled with the Doctor that I realized time agents are basically a bunch of idiots who know nothing about time. We thought we were preserving time, yet in reality, most of the time, we were messing up time stability. That's why the Time Lords can't be replaced. Time is too intricate and complex."

"For Gallifreyan people, it's an instinct that others can't replicate," the Doctor admitted. "We have special senses that allow us to see through the knots of time and know what kinds of changes are safe for time stability. Even so, becoming a Time Lord requires countless years of training."

They took a few seconds to digest this information, and then Jack realized something, "Wait, Time Lords aren't born as Time Lords?"

"Of course not," the Doctor looked at them strangely, surprised by their expression. "What race would call themselves Time Lords? Would our children be called 'time kids'?"

"You can't... I don't know, supervise the Shadow Proclamation's control over time?" Jack understood why Ianto asked this. He had always thought it was irresponsible for the Doctor not to stay after the Battle of Canary Wharf.

"They will never listen to me," the Doctor shook his head. "They want to replace the Time Lords, I would just be a puppet."

"How bad could it be? If they interfere with time?" Martha couldn't help but ask. She had seen the Judoons and knew their unreasonable enforcement. But the negotiation option seemed to have more leeway compared to Jack's life imprisonment.

Unexpectedly, the Doctor and Jack exchanged a glance and, in heavy tones, answered simultaneously, "Very."

At this point, they fell silent once more.

◎◎◎

Two days passed mostly in silence. Jack genuinely couldn't tell whether the Doctor was awake or in a semi-coma state. His condition had slightly improved but was still not enough. Because I'm here, Jack thought bitterly. The Judoons brought water and food about every eight hours, which was the only way they knew time was passing. After the fifth meal, they knew their destination was not far away.

"Listen," after waiting in silence for the Judoons to take away the trays, the Doctor finally spoke again. "You need to remember a few things. First, we do not represent Earth. If things go wrong, we cannot give the Proclamation an excuse to declare war on Earth. Second, Martha, Ianto, clarify as much as possible that you have nothing to do with us during the trial."

"Wait, what?" Martha blinked.

"No matter what punishment we ultimately receive—most likely exile to the void—you cannot follow. After proving your innocence, the Shadow Proclamation will send you back to Earth. Understood?"

"Why are you saying this?" Ianto asked. "Like... you've already given up."

"This is just a hypothesis," the Doctor responded quickly. "Whatever happens, it certainly won't be good. I will find a way to turn things around, but we have to prepare for the worst-case. You must be innocent."

Here, Ianto had never travelled with the Doctor, but both Martha and Jack understood the Time Lord. His tone was too desperate. Ianto was right, the Doctor had already given up.

"You know something," said Jack affirmatively, not even asking. "You already know the outcome, don't you?"

The Doctor pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head. "I believe I have enough evidence to convince the Shadow Proclamation to let Jack go. As for you two... I don't know."

"Evidence? What kind of evidence?"

"I've seen you in the future, Jack," the Time Lord looked at him. "That's your personal future, which means no matter what the Proclamation does, it won't be permanent."

"You mean..." Martha's eyes widened.

"Wait, you've seen me together in the future?" Jack frowned.

"I can't tell you the details. You know the rules," the Doctor replied succinctly.

"Okay, okay." Having been a time agent, he certainly understood the rules. "But what about you, Doctor?"

"I don't know," the Doctor answered stiffly, sounding like a very false lie.

"Doctor!" Jack was a bit angry now. "We can all hear that you're hiding something, so cut the crap and just tell us the truth, okay?"

"The truth is I won't tell you!" the Doctor suddenly stood up from his seated position, glaring down at them angrily. "Accept it!"

Everyone stared at him in surprise, unable to find words to respond. A few seconds later, the Doctor seemed to suddenly realize the pain, bracing his ribs and leaning back against the wall.

"Okay, that was stupid." He looked up, his tone suddenly very tired. Martha was the first to concede. She stood up and went to the Doctor's side. "Alright, you don't want to tell us... now just sit down. You'll hurt yourself."

Jack glanced at Ianto and saw the man maintaining a calm, emotionless expression. Yet knowing his team well enough, he could see disapproval in his eyes. Jack sighed inwardly. This wasn't the first time the Doctor had withheld information, but it was still hard to accept. If anything was different, at least this time the Doctor had directly admitted he wouldn't be talk.

At that moment, the ship jolted slightly, and then the engine noise diminished. They had arrived at the Shadow Proclamation.

Chapter Text

VI     The Confession

It might be hard to believe, but with all those years as a time agent, Jack had never actually been to the Shadow Proclamation.

They stripped them of everything, the sonic screwdriver, the vortex manipulator… Jack was just glad they hadn't taken his coat. As soon as they exited the ship, they were led into a grey, semi-circular room. The room was divided in half by a transparent barrier made of a special reinforced material. It didn't obstruct their view, but bullets and lasers couldn't easily pass through. They faced three black-clad judges on the other side of the barrier, with Judoons standing guard behind them.

"This isn't a proper appeal process." The Doctor frowned in protest as soon as they entered the room. "An appeal requires at least ten council members to be present, especially for an Omega-level case."

He stood a bit straighter than he had two days ago, and his complexion wasn't as pale as when they first arrived in Cardiff. Thank goodness for the Time Lord's accelerated healing. Jack just hoped it would be enough to hold out until everything was over.

"This is a special provision, Doctor." The woman in the center spoke, her hands clasped in front of her. "The confidentiality granted by the special regulation alters the appeal process." Not giving him a chance to argue further, she stepped forward. "Doctor, you burst into the Shadow Proclamation, damaged valuable regulatory equipment, and admitted to harbouring dangerous criminals. What do you expect from this appeal?"

Jack took half a second to process her words, then turned in surprise to his friend. The Doctor had done those things? Committed crimes against the Proclamation? But the Time Lord didn't look at him. He continued speaking.

"I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about Captain Jack Harkness." He said, "You have no evidence that he is a dangerous entity. Without evidence, he cannot be classified as an Omega-level criminal."

"He is not a criminal." The member on the left spoke. He had a humanoid form but with light grey skin and two small horns protruding from his blue short hair. "His human consciousness itself does not have a significant criminal record, only a few minor offenses. However, he is a fixed point and a threat to the stability of the universe. Evidence is unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?" The Doctor raised his voice slightly. "You have no right to say that. You lack the necessary technology. I am the Time Lord in this room!"

"You altered a fixed point!" The woman snapped. "The shockwaves you caused have rippled across the entire universe, affecting the stability of countless galaxies. So, Time Lord, tell me that hasn't caused harm."

"You can no longer serve as a qualified standard." The member on the right said in a low voice. "Your actions were reckless and irresponsible, indicating your instability. The threat posed by the fixed point will be eliminated, that is the Proclamation's final decision."

"The Time Lord will be imprisoned. You will cooperate with our investigation and provide consultation on technology. That is the dignity we grant you." The woman stared at the Doctor. "If you cooperate, we will ultimately grant you parole, allowing you to return to the universe."

"The fixed point will be exiled." The member on the left added, "Exiled to the shattered void, no longer a part of the universe. Time will be safe as a result."

Jack could hear Martha suppressing a soft 'no' beside him, while Ianto took a deep breath, likely trying to hold back a Welsh-style curse.

"The two humans will be investigated to determine if there is any criminal record, and they will be judged based on the facts." The member on the right summarized. The woman in the center seemed to deem the case closed and turned to leave. Just at that moment, the Doctor stepped forward.

"Wait!"

The woman stopped and looked back at him, her expression cold.

"Jack Harkness, I have seen his future," said the Doctor. "You cannot exile him. His future extends for countless years in the timeline and intertwines with complex events. If you change this, the timeline will collapse."

The woman raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery in her expression.

"Perhaps we are not Time Lords, Doctor, but we are not stupid." She replied. "The timeline of the fixed point will be erased, as will the past and future related to him. Your 'complex temporal events' will never occur."

"You don't have the technology for that."

"Don't we? We are more capable than you think, Time Lord."

"You cannot do this." The Doctor emphasized again, but Jack could hear the waning confidence in his voice. "He has saved the universe, you idiots. If you erase that part, what will be left of the universe?"

"Take them away." The woman disregarded him and turned to leave. The Judoons approached from behind, forcefully grabbing their arms.

"You have no right to do this!" The Doctor shouted, struggling against the grip on his arm. The other two members of the Proclamation turned and walked toward the door at the other end of the room. "He has saved the universe, he is more important than you bunch of fools! You cannot erase him! Oh!"

His last few words were nearly a scream. Jack had never heard the Doctor struggle with such desperation. It made him flinch. The Doctor's final words were interrupted by the rough actions of the Judoon, turning into a cry of pain that couldn't be contained. The Time Lord instinctively curled, clutching his injured ribs. But the Judoon showed no mercy, dragging him out of the room without regard for Martha's protests.

"You're hurting him! Let him go! Don't touch me!"

Before being completely subdued, Ianto managed a silent touch, their fingers touched for two seconds. Fear was evident in his silent eyes, asking if Jack would come back safely. But Jack couldn't answer. This time, he genuinely didn't know.

◎◎◎

They were taken back to the ship. Though this time, the Doctor and Jack were locked in the same cell, while Martha and Ianto were taken elsewhere. Jack guessed this was the difference between those who had already been convicted and those still undergoing trial. They fell into silence. To be honest, Jack was surprised by the Doctor's reaction. He had never heard the Time Lord scream with that kind of desperation, let alone for him. He never thought he held enough importance in the Doctor's heart—otherwise, he wouldn't have been abandoned at that distant game station. Or maybe the Doctor simply loved every human, Jack thought bitterly. Yet…

A soft groan suddenly snapped him back to reality. He looked up and noticed the Doctor struggling to sit against the wall, his expression pained.

"Hey." Jack hurried over but hesitated to touch him. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?"

"I think I've reopened a wound on my back," admitted the Doctor with a wry smile. "Can you check it for me?"

"Of course." Jack reached out, hesitating. "If I touch you…"

"Only through the fabric, it'll be fine." The Time Lord gently nodded. With that assurance, Jack carefully pulled down the other's coat and suit, revealing a shirt stained with a bit of red. The blood was a lighter colour than human blood.

"It's definitely bleeding again." Damn Judoons, Jack cursed silently in his mind.

"A small amount is fine, I heal fast." The Doctor sighed, indicating for Jack to step back as he adjusted his clothing. "I'm afraid there's nothing else you can do. Thank you."

Jack backed away and sat opposite the other, hesitating for a moment before speaking. "You knew this is pointless, didn't you? Your planned defence?"

"I have to at least try." The Doctor admitted, shaking his head. "But this is wrong, Jack. This isn't what I expected to happen."

"Wrong… Do you know how this will unfold? How do you know?"

The Time Lord looked up, gazing at a point beyond the wall as if he could see the universe outside through the metal. "Have you noticed? They're taking us away from the Shadow Proclamation area."

Jack nodded, waiting for further explanation.

"The Shadow Proclamation is special. This location is a temporal nexus where time operates very strangely—its time positioning is relative to any major temporal event it currently connected. However, once we leave here, it won't be the case." After a pause, the Doctor continued, "When I made that foolish mistake in 2059 on Earth, my actions triggered time shockwaves. Imagine normal time as the surface of a calm pond; the shockwaves create ripples at certain points. The ripples need time to propagate, slowly altering the entire fabric of time."

"And you, Jack, are like an invisible stake anchored in the center of the pond. Normally, you wouldn't be visible—unless you had the right technology. But when the surface is rippling, you become very obvious."

"That's why you said the Shadow Proclamation could track me."

"Yes, that's my fault," agreed the Doctor, his gaze turning away in shame. "However, once the ripples pass, you will return to an untraceable state. Realizing the mistake I made, I chased the leading edge of the ripples, going back from 2059, trying to prevent them from finding you."

"Did you see the outcome in the future?" Jack frowned, questioning. Usually, this shouldn't be how time worked, but when it involved temporal anomalies or fixed point, it was not impossible.

"Yes. The last encounter I had with the Judoons was in 2027. Because I was delayed, the time shockwave surpassed my current time, and our moment in time has already been corrected." said the Doctor, "Our conclusion occurred outside the Proclamation—happening in a place where events could be recorded and transmitted linearly. That's why I found the corresponding files in 2027."

"What did the files say?" asked Jack. "Come on, Doctor, how much worse can it get than the current situation?"

The Doctor shot him a glare before slowly speaking. "The Time Lord and the humans have been sent into Ground Zero. Threat eliminated."

"Ground Zero? What's that?" He struggled to ignore the implications of 'threat eliminated' and asked instead.

"I don't know." The other admitted. "But I believe it is some kind of void rift, a boundary of existence."

"Wait." Jack thought carefully and realized what the Doctor had said. "The Time Lord? But I'm the only one being exiled."

"Yes." The Doctor shook his head. "I don't understand either. However, at that time, I thought the message was very clear. The Time Lord… that could only be me, the last of my kind. I just hoped the humans weren't you, not any of you. I hoped you could escape, flee to a place where the time shockwaves couldn't reach, and you would become undetectable again."

"And Jack… according to the records, we never left Ground Zero. Whatever that is."

"So you knew this was a losing battle all along." whispered Jack, a sense of awe creeping in as he understood what that meant. "Even so, you followed the shockwaves to warn me. You knew it meant your own demise."

The other simply turned his head away, not responding.

"Why?" he asked, unable to resist. "Why not tell us?"

"What difference would it make?" The Doctor retorted bitterly. "I had hoped… hoped there was still a chance in my negotiations. I don't understand, erasing your existence from the timeline—The Shadow Proclamation shouldn't have that kind of technology… yet I don't think they were just bluffing. If I told you the truth, would you still let me make the negotiations?"

Jack knew without thinking that they wouldn't. If they knew, they would use every means to try to change the future. And based on Jack's experience, that usually only made things worse.

"We still have to try to find out what Ground Zero is. That might be our last hope," said The Doctor, closing his eyes and tiredly leaning against the wall. "Jack, the future isn't set yet. The information never clearly states who humans are."

"You mean, even if our struggles mean realizing the part where you being exiled to the void."

"Maybe that's how it should be." The Doctor opened his eyes again, his gaze filled with too much sadness. "Jack, I've lived too long, I've forgotten the principles I should uphold—I even toyed with the time. I'm starting to lose myself, becoming cruel and arrogant. Perhaps it's time to atone for my sins."

"You can't be serious," said Jack in disbelief. Was this how the Doctor think of himself? "Doctor, you've saved countless lives. Do you really think the universe doesn't need you?"

"I've ruined countless lives," The Doctor replied painfully. "Jack, I ruined Rose, ruined Martha. I've ruined your life too."

"No, that's not…"

"Isn't it? Ask your boyfriend. Did you think I didn't notice his tone? As if I were his enemy?" The Doctor's voice was sharp. "What's his story? What did I do to make him hate me?"

"Ianto is…" Jack hesitated before softly saying, "His girlfriend was at Canary Wharf. Half-converted. He thought he could restore her from the Cybermen's conversion."

"So if I had been willing to stay and help, check on the survivors, she might have lived."

"No, Doctor. She was completely converted, no one could reverse that. It's not your…"

"You don't know that." The Doctor's tone was dangerously quiet, silencing Jack. "I can do what you can't. Her death was likely because I was a coward, too afraid to look back at the damage I caused." Before Jack could deny it, he continued coldly, "In 2059, I thought I could master time; I saved a woman who had to die on Mars that day, at that moment. Her death would lead her granddaughter to explore the stars, leading humanity into the universe. But no, I decided I was the Time Lords Victorious. I decided to save her and bring her back to Earth."

"She committed suicide in front of me, Jack. After she learned her true fate."

Jack held back the impulse to recoil. There was an undeniable darkness in The Doctor's voice, but that wasn't what made him shrink back. If this was what the Doctor had gone through… he couldn't imagine the pain tearing at his heart, the soul-wrenching regret. But this kind of thing shouldn't happen unless…

"Doctor…" he cautiously asked, "How long have you been traveling alone?"

The other didn't answer. That in itself was telling.

"Don't you consider…" Jack carefully chose his words, "traveling with someone, Doctor? Maybe Donna? I'm sure she'd be willing…"

"I wiped her memories." The Doctor interrupted him coldly, shocking him into silence. "I ruined her life. There's no one left. Not anymore."

"Why did you do that?" At that moment, Jack couldn't control the accusation in his voice. Donna loved traveling with The Doctor, how could he take that away from her?

"Because I could!" The Doctor snapped back fiercely. "I grew tired of her, so I left her, just like I left you!"

That was the most hurtful thing Jack had ever heard—if it weren't for the pain in the Doctor's voice. It was enough to make him recognize the lie. At that moment, he realized that the Doctor was actually trying to persuade him to give up, to let him take on a fate of permanent exile.

"Do you really think I would believe your words?" Jack suddenly calmed down, gently asking, "You're such an idiot, Doctor."

The Doctor continued to glare at him fiercely, but he met his gaze calmly. After a few seconds, the Time Lord's shoulders suddenly slumped, burying his face in his hands, making him appear small and vulnerable.

"I had no choice." His voice carried an undeniable sob, "The mind of a Time Lord was killing Donna, the only way to save her was to erase her memories. She can never remember. I took everything from her. Jack, I had no choice."

"Oh." Jack's eyes widened as he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart. Was this what happened right after they all left him, after he sent Rose away? They thought the Doctor would have companions, Rose and Donna, but in reality, they all left him. They basically abandoned him—in his most painful moment. And he pretended to be strong, pretending that he was fine on his own, finally breaking down at this moment.

"I would never choose to abandon her." The Doctor still covered his face. Jack was shocked to realize he was crying. "I ruined her life. I… I never wanted to choose to abandon you either. I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry."

What?

"What?" At that moment, he couldn't process it. The Doctor had once said that he instinctively ran from Jack, leaving him at that game station—because he couldn't bear Jack's abnormality. Yet…

"I couldn't regenerate next to a fixed point in time. I didn't know what the consequences would be… I was supposed to come back for you after I regenerated, I swear." The Doctor looked up. His expression was like a condemned man making his last confession. "But the Shadow Proclamation was already hunting you, Jack. I blew up their device used to track you… the only way they had to find you was through me. I'm easy to find, I'm the only Time Lord in the universe. The fixed point next to me would be the most conspicuous thing in the universe. I shouldn't have had any contact with you, I shouldn't have been anywhere near you, that would only lead the Proclamation to you immediately. That's why you're here now, facing exile. I should have stayed away from you. You don't need me. This is my fault, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for betraying you, for leaving you at that game station. I…"

Jack did the only logical thing. He rushed forward and hugged the Doctor, being careful not to touch any exposed skin. The Time Lord didn't resist—Jack suspected he couldn't. In Jack's embrace, the Doctor finally broke down completely, leaning against his shoulder and crying uncontrollably, repeatedly saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry." For all those years, he thought he was abandoned, that all their friendships were trampled just because he was 'wrong,' yet in reality, the Doctor had never willingly given him up. He was protecting Jack, keeping him away from the Shadow Proclamation's ruthless judgment. He willingly became a wanted man, knowing it would be his end, yet still came back to warn him, trying to change Jack's fate.

"Shh, it's okay, Doctor, you're not at fault. Everything is okay." Jack could only repeat, gently rubbing the Doctor's back, hoping to provide some comfort. "Let it all out. I got you."

"I'm really sorry, Jack. I'm sorry…"

"I know. There's nothing to apologize for, everything is forgiven. You just wanted to protect me."

He held back the sting in his nose. Seeing such a vulnerable Doctor made his heart ache, but at that moment, they probably didn't need two crying people. He patiently waited, continuously comforting, until the Doctor gradually calmed down, eventually going still in his embrace.

"…It hurts, doesn't it?" He finally realized that his coat button was pressing against the Doctor's injured ribs.

"Hurts like hell," the Doctor mumbled, still buried in Jack's shoulder. "Please don't let go."

So Jack didn't let go.

Chapter Text

VII    The Sentence

The Doctor had fallen asleep, exhausted. Jack carefully adjusted him to a more comfortable position, still mourning the immense sadness of another person.

He had lost everyone. Rose, Donna, Martha, and Jack himself had chosen to leave him. Jack could probably guess why the Doctor was hiding the truth—such a fool. He wished the Doctor had been honest with him, but the Time Lord always took everything upon himself, not wanting Jack to feel pressured. He might even prefer that Jack hate him… stupid, self-sacrificing idiot.

Now that the Doctor was willing to speak the truth, it indicated he had accepted this as his own end. Ianto had always been right. The Doctor had given up, given up on changing his own fate.

But Jack wasn't ready to accept that. He would change the Doctor's fate. He had to find a way to save the Time Lord and then get everyone back safely to Earth. The Shadow Proclamation might put a bounty on him for that, Jack thought bitterly. He might never be able to return to Earth. He couldn't risk dragging Earth into this chaos. Oh, Ianto would hate him.

Jack placed a hand on the Doctor's uninjured shoulder and began to think. How could he change a predetermined future? His training as a time agent gave him a simple answer: you can't. He could very well destroy all of existence, obliterating the universe. Especially when it involved the Doctor—one of the most complex beings in the entire timeline. One wrong move could create an irreparable paradox.

This journey was much shorter than the last. Alhough Jack didn't have the Doctor's innate ability to sense time, he estimated it had only been about two hours. He felt the roar of the engine diminish, the vibrations of flight subsiding. The Doctor undoubtedly felt it too. He shifted slightly, gradually waking up.

"Good morning sunshine," Jack smiled at him.

"Jack." The Doctor blinked, suddenly realizing his situation and bolting upright. This was obviously an impulsive action. His hands quickly returned to his chest, frowning. Jack grabbed his shoulder to help him sit up straight while joking to cover his worriedness, "Hate lying on my lap that much?"

"You're impossible," the Doctor grumbled in annoyance.

"Come on, everyone slept on my lap says it's comfortable," Jack protested, earning a roll of the eyes in return.

After a few seconds, the smiles faded from their faces. The weight of their previous conversation lingered heavily in the air. The Doctor leaned against the wall, seemingly searching for his words. He was silent for nearly a minute before he spoke.

"Jack, what I said to you before, before Utopia…"

"It's okay, Doctor," interrupted Jack, but the other person ignored him. "I said you were wrong, and other things… I didn't mean it. I never did."

"Everything is fine, really. I understand."

"And…" the Doctor hesitated for a moment, "if I don't… tell Martha I'm sorry. For everything."

"Don't you even dare."

They fell into silence again, sensing a slight jolt. They had arrived at their destination.

◎◎◎

Ianto and Martha hadn't spoken much during the two hours. They started discussing strategies, ending with the lack of information.

In moments like this, Ianto realized why Torchwood couldn't function without Jack. They knew nothing about the universe. Goodness, he had been at Torchwood for so many years, and yesterday was the first time he had ever looked up the 'galactic law.'

They were behind Jack and the Doctor while being imprisoned, they knew the other two were just next door. Shortly after boarding the ship, they heard brief arguing from the next cell—something Ianto wasn't surprised about. Then there was silence. The wall prevented them from hearing any dialogue clearly.

About two hours later, they reached their destination. Ianto keenly noticed Jack's change—a determined, fiery gaze, as if he was resolved to solve something at all costs. There was also a trace of hidden sorrow deep within his expression. He and the Doctor must have had some sort of conversation.

Then they were taken to another cell, informed that the execution would take place the following morning. Ianto wasn't sure how 'one day' would be calculated deep in the space, but he guessed it wouldn't be long.

Whatever they wanted to do had to be done now.

"Martha." He whispered, "You have a hairpin, right?"

Martha looked at him, slightly puzzled.

"That's an electronic lock," she pointed at the cell door.

"I know," replied Ianto. "Jack told me that old tricks for mechanical locks can work on some electronic ones too… I don't remember the entire conversation, but trying doesn't hurt."

"Alright…" Martha raised her hand to retrieve the black hairpin, pulling it out and handing it over. "Strange, I only have one. I clearly remember having two when I left."

"It's fine, one is enough." Ianto approached the door. There was no guard outside. He slipped the hairpin into the gap, trying to recall the techniques Jack mentioned. "Honestly, I don't even know if Jack was serious. He mentioned escaping from a prison using this method, but I never heard the ending of the story."

"Oh? Why not?"

Ianto paused, feeling his ears warm. "It was… a conversation happened in bed."

Martha chuckled lightly, mercifully withholding her comments.

Ianto wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. He was just trying to loosen something—this involved short-circuiting some wires, right? Minutes later, the lock clicked open.

"You did it!" Martha exclaimed in surprise, while Ianto still didn't know how he had done it.

"No, he obviously wasn't paying attention in class." The cell door swung open, and Jack and the Doctor stood outside, looking down at Ianto amused, who was kneeling by the lock. "Next time, are you willing to listen to my little tricks more closely?"

Jack held Martha's lost hairpin.

"Next time you teach a trick like this, maybe don't do it in bed," said Ianto casually, standing up straight and returning the hairpin to Martha. The Doctor rolled his eyes behind them.

"Come on, we have a mission." Jack gestured for them to follow, leading them out of the cell. "We need to find something called Ground Zero. Not sure what it is, but…"

"Did you hear that?" the Doctor interrupted him, frowning up at the ceiling. "That sharp buzzing sound?"

They quieted down, listening intently. Silence.

"No." After a few seconds, Jack shook his head.

"There's something wrong here, very wrong…" The Doctor looked around and then back at them. "I bet that's what we're looking for."

"Great. After you?"

"No." The Time Lord shook his head. "I'll figure out what it is. You lots, find a way to the control room? We need data, clues, and it would be great if we could find a security loophole in this place."

"Doctor, you can't go alone. You'll need backup," said Martha. "I'll go with you."

"No. I have to go alone." This was odd. Even Ianto could say this was a logically flawed strategy.

"Doctor, Martha is right. You shouldn't…"

"Jack, you know how things are!" the Doctor interrupted him sharply. "There's only one Time Lord, but humans don't have to be you!"

"Don't be stubborn. I won't let that happen!"

"Okay, what?" asked Ianto, reminding them that two others were still in the dark. Jack took a deep breath and looked at him.

"The Doctor has seen today's events recorded in the future." Oh, they definitely wouldn't like that. "The Time Lord and humans entered Ground Zero, threat neutralized. No one comes out."

"…There's only one Time Lord left in the universe," said Martha with a hint of fear. This was quite a limited option.

"My fate is already sealed, but yours isn't." the Doctor's voice held a note of pleading. "Let me go alone."

"We absolutely won't agree." said Jack.

"No." Martha agreed. "But it can't be you either, Jack. Your sentence… whoever this narrative refers to, it's most likely you." She looked up at the Doctor, her expression firm. "The Shadow Proclamation is an enforcement organization, right? I haven't committed any crime, so if I go with you, they have no authority to punish me. What you saw in the future won't happen."

"And then we'll go save you," Ianto added. Indeed, he didn't particularly like the Doctor, yet he understood how important the Time Lord was to Jack. That gave him enough motivation. "She's right, Jack. We do need more information, a way to escape."

"I…"

Jack reached out, grabbing the Time Lord's wrist, stopping his words.

"Doctor, just this once, let us help you." He said, almost pleading. "Promise me you won't give up."

The Doctor stared at the cuff Jack had grabbed, seemingly surprised. After a few seconds, he swallowed hard, met Jack's gaze, and then nodded slowly.

"I won't give up. I don't want to go yet."

"Good. Martha, take care of him."

" Absolutely."

"Wait." said the Doctor, "Can you wait by the door for a moment? I want to speak to Ianto alone."

Jack blinked in surprise and then nodded. He and Martha stepped outside, keeping an eye out for any possible danger, while Ianto puzzled over what the Doctor wanted to say to him.

"I know you don't like me," the Time Lord started bluntly. "I know what you lost at Canary Wharf. I'm sorry I didn't stay to help."

He wanted to retort back, saying apologies wouldn't change anything, but he held back.

"Listen." The Doctor seemed to know what he was thinking, sighed, and lowered his voice. "You don't have to forgive me, you don't have to respond, just… when you're with Jack, help me do one thing."

Ianto stiffly nodded, indicating for him to continue.

"By Judoon standards, the evidence area should be very close to the main control room, so it would be a very dangerous mission for you to go there," said the Doctor. "But if there's a chance… take the vortex manipulator before Jack does. Set it to zero, and the teleport will locate to the last position, which is Earth, Cardiff. Hold onto him, and you two can be teleported back together. Don't let him come back here, understood?"

He opened his mouth but found no words.

"I haven't given up. I promised Jack," the Doctor hurriedly clarified, as if to make a point. "But… changing a fixed event in time is very dangerous. I'm not sure if I can do it. If things go wrong, I'll find a way to get Martha home. However, Jack already has an exile order. If we get caught, I won't have any excuses, no way to save him. Take him away, and never come back."

"You know I can't promise that." Though he answered that way, Ianto knew that if given the chance, if he truly got the vortex manipulator, he knew how he would choose.

"Just… for Jack, and for yourself." The Doctor slowly let his hands drop. "Also, I'm really sorry, for everything."

Having that said, he turned and walked away, quickly making his way down the corridor with Martha. Ianto slowly moved forward to Jack's side.

"What did he say?" asked Jack.

"Apologies, Canary Wharf," replied Ianto softly, not telling the full truth. "That's it, nothing else."

Jack nodded, accepting the answer, and then led him running in the opposite direction.

◎◎◎

"Judoons are a bit thick," whispered Jack. They waited in the corner for the patrolling galactic police to pass by. "This means they rarely check areas that have been deemed safe. Once they pass by, we have a good window of opportunity. But their noses are very good, and I hope you didn't wear cologne today... or yesterday."

"Only if you could curb your 51^st century pheromones." Ianto countered quietly.

Heavy footsteps heralded Judoons' approach. They waited with bated breath, hiding in the shadows until the footsteps were gone.

"Come on." Jack took the lead, heading towards the center of the building. "We're going to have to make a little noise. What do you think about a fire alarm?"

"Consider it done." Ianto responded and saw an empty laboratory around the corner. He went around and found a bunch of chemicals labelled in alien languages, yet his nose could identify acids and bases. He mixed something together and felt the chemical reaction building up to a fever pitch.

"I dare say these things are flammable." Jack piled several pill bottles that smelled like organic solutions aside and opened the bottles, "Five minutes?"

"Five minutes," Ianto agreed, returning to the corridor. The whole building was intricate, but Jack seemed to know what he was doing. "When you get arrested enough times, you'll figure out how to escape."

"It is indeed a bit strange though." When he was quite sure that they were very close to the center, Jack added, "If this is a tight base, the defence is indeed too lax."

"A trap?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Jack frowned and thought, "It almost seems like there's something wrong. Maybe it has something to do with the Ground Zero."

A loud noise came from far away.

"I guess that's our signal." Putting his thoughts aside, Jack grinned at him. Several being with red skin and a somewhat human-like appearance ran out of the central control room and ran towards the location of the explosion. They waited a few more seconds before quietly sneaking into the room. Jack was right, it was a large surveillance room, but the space was almost entirely empty. After those people left just now, there were only three left inside.

The two looked at each other, nodded, and then rushed out silently. Ianto forcefully covered the mouth and nose of one of them, while Jack clasped the other's throat with his arm, grabbed the laser gun from the being's waist and fired at the third man without hesitation. Thirty seconds later, all three of them had fallen to the ground.

"Here." Jack handed the weapon to Ianto, "I have encountered this kind of thing, naughty stun gun. It has strong firepower and no one can wake up for a week after being hit."

"That doesn't sound pleasant."

"Like a hungover after twenty bottles of whiskey." Jack agreed, "Guard the door and I'll look up the information."

"Do you recognize this language?" Ianto nodded towards the unfamiliar words on the screen.

"Please, this is one of the most common language in the galaxy. Keep up." After saying that, he started typing quickly on the keyboard. Ianto took this opportunity to look around and noticed the surveillance footage. Whatever potions were stored in that lab were a little more flammable than they thought. That corridor was now ablaze. No one noticed anything unusual in the control room.

He glanced at Jack and looked like he still had a little more time. There is an iron door on the left, right next to the door of the central control room. Ianto may not understand the alien language, but he has been Torchwood's archivist. That looks like a storage room no matter how you look at it.

He found the access card on the fallen personnel and swiped open the door of the storage room. It should be numbered according to date, so he quickly found what belonged to them. The sonic screwdriver, Jack and his own sidearm, and the vortex manipulator. Ianto picked up the sonic screwdriver, ignoring his pistol and grabbing another weapon that looked similar to the high-power stun gun he was holding, and finally the vortex manipulator.

He hesitated for a moment, then adjusted the setting of the vortex manipulator to zero and hid it in his cuffs.

Back in the control room, Jack didn't notice his absence, but stared at the information on the screen. Hearing his approach, Jack spoke. "Ground Zero, as expected, is some kind of time-related device. It's a bit like a teleporter, but more complex than that... The strange thing is that a lot of data seems to have been erased."

"Try files from older times to see if there is a prototype." Ianto suggested.

"There are too many files here, I can try, but..."

"Will this help?" He held out the sonic screwdriver. "I'm not sure if you know how to use it."

Jack stared at the screwdriver and grinned, "I actually know, that helps a lot."

He took the tool and began to use the sonic screwdriver to quickly flip through one data file after another. "I set the keywords in and I can quickly filter out the important things. Have you found my vortex manipulator?"

"No," Ianto lied, "but I found some extra weapons. Stun gun?"

Jack glanced at the thing in his hand and confirmed, "Stun gun."

"And your revolver."

"Aha," the other man shouted happily, using his free hand to put the pistol behind his waist. Ianto always suspected it was just a matter of fashion, like his coat. After a few seconds, the data on the screen seemed to stop changing.

"Special teleportation files... Sure enough, this is some kind of teleportation-related technology." Jack examined, "Any non-registered technology teleportation, which is not common in the Shadow Proclamation. Let me take a look, the earliest file..."

The first few files were very blurry, like damaged files. Jack eliminated the useless files and found the first record that worked. But Ianto could tell that the format was different from other files.

"Unregistered transmission...wait." Jack noticed after a few seconds. It was a video clip, "Tardis?"

They saw the Doctor landing inside the Shadow Proclamation and emerging from the TARDIS. The Doctor looked much younger—this must be a thing from the past. Facing him was the woman who had put them on trial.

"Fixed point is a threat, you will bring him to us."

The conversation was undoubtedly about Jack. The Doctor agreed to the Proclamation's request, but seemed to be perfunctory. They walked towards a golden instrument and discussed the issue of time and space control.

"Only this one? No blueprints or other equipment?" asked the Doctor.

"No."

Absolutely stupid answer. Even Ianto knew what the Doctor was trying to do.

"Very well."

The next second, the Doctor detonated the instrument. This apparently made the woman furious and declared him an accomplice. The Doctor took advantage of the brief opportunity to rush towards the TARDIS, and was hit the moment he entered the door. He managed to escape. After a while, the TARDIS disappears from the screen.

"Yeah." said Jack dryly, "It seems we know who destroyed the previous files, though it's not what we are looking for."

After saying that, he closed the file and continued to browse the next information. Ianto was a little surprised he didn't comment further, so he glanced at him.

There was a little sadness stain in the corner of Jack's eyes.

"Jack." asked Ianto with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." The man quickly flipped through other information, avoiding his gaze. After a few seconds, he reluctantly spoke.

"That timestamp corresponds to Christmas 2005 on Earth. If I'm right, it was immediately after the game Station."

Ianto knows about the game station. He knew about Jack's past there, and how the Doctor never went back for him.

"For so long, I thought I was abandoned," Jack whispered. "The truth is, the Doctor did it to protect me. He destroyed the Shadow Proclamation's way of tracking me, so that the Proclamation could not find me. The only way they had was to through the Doctor. He couldn't meet with me to avoid them locating my presence. This decision must have been very painful for him."

He cleared his throat and continued.

"He already knows his end, Ianto. He knows he will probably die here, but he still comes to warn me. I can't give up on him—even if he has given up on himself."

"He's going to be okay. We're all going to get out of here together," Ianto reassured, holding Jack's forearm. He knew this comfort was hollow. Yet…

He couldn't help but look at his hand that was holding Jack's and knew that the vortex manipulator was under the fabric, all set. With just one click of a button, they can get out of here.

Then he looked up and watched Jack staring at the screen with sad but determined eyes, trying to find a solution, convinced that he could save the Doctor. Finally, Ianto slowly let go of his hand.

If he did what the Doctor asked, Jack would never forgive him. He wouldn't do this to Jack.

And... maybe... he owed the Doctor an apology, too.

"Aha." Jack's voice brought him back from his thoughts, "I think this is it, the anomalous transmission file. It's not under the keyword Ground Zero, but all the information about Ground Zero actually appeared after that. This is where it comes from."

"Transfer files? What's wrong about those?" Ianto put aside his original plan and finally fully focused on the situation in front of him.

"There's nothing unusual about it, except that the teleportation energy is unusually high, almost like they're forcing a breakthrough." Jack scrolled through the file, "The teleportation technology is the most advanced and has almost the same access to all time and space as the vortex manipulator—but the energy was a hundred times more powerful. I checked the location where they teleported... Frankly, it's all around here."

"So it's possible that these teleportations caused Ground Zero." Ianto analysed, "What about the time stamp?"

"The time is... wait." Jack paused, "That's impossible."

"What?"

"This period is a restricted area. No one can or should teleport into this period." Jack raised his head, with a fear in his eyes that was difficult for Ianto to identify. He handed Ianto the screwdriver. "Ianto, go to the computer on the right. Sonic the computer and the basic navigation information should show up. Give me the coordinates."

"Understood," he responded, doing as Jack said, and the coordinates indeed showed, "10-0-11-00:11."

"You said 10-0-11-00?" asked Jack, his voice tight.

"Yes." Ianto confirmed, "Do you recognize it?"

"All time agents know this area." responded Jack in a fearful voice, "Ianto, this is Gallifrey airspace."

"Gallifrey? You mean..." That's the Time Lords' planet, wasn't it?

"The worst thing is..." Jack took a deep breath, "these teleportation targets were during the Time War. That time itself was prohibited, let alone Gallifrey airspace. During the Time War, the entire area was within the time lock, no one could come out, no one could enter. If you force on the time lock... the entire reality may be torn apart."

"So that's Ground Zero. A rip in reality."

"Yes, it's very close to what the Doctor guessed." said Jack, "Everything that goes in will be erased from reality, and will no longer exist from the past to the future."

"Now, if a fixed point is put into the crack." A woman's voice. They turned their heads sharply and saw numerous guns pointed at them. "Disable their teleportation."

A Judoon pointed something like a sonic screwdriver at Ianto. The vortex manipulator on his wrist sparked, stinging his wrist.

"Oh!"

"...Ianto?" Jack looked at the instrument exposed under his sleeve, and then looked at him with surprise and disbelief. He knew he couldn't explain it.

"Sorry," he could only whisper. The Judoons came over, restricted them, and pushed them to the ground.

"This is your own mess." Jack cursed through gritted teeth and glared at the woman of the Shadow Proclamation. "You tried to steal the Time Lords' technology from the Time War, but you were unable to break through the time lock of the War. Instead, you created rift in time!"

"Everything is under control." said the woman coldly, "The fixed point and the rift will eliminate each other. The threat of the fixed point and the danger of the rift will be terminated."

"That's why you need Jack." Ianto struggled, but couldn't get rid of the Judoons' grip. "Use him to undo the mistake of your own making."

"None of this is legal!" Jack shouted, "What you are doing... even a most basic time agent knows the stupidity of playing with time locks. Imagine if the rest of the universe knew what you did..."

He stopped suddenly and looked at Ianto with wide eyes in horror.

"Oh no, no..."

The Judoons forcefully dragged the two up from the ground and began to pull them outside. The woman didn't pay attention, but left first, ignoring Jack's angry shouts.

"You idiots! Hypocrites! Someone will discover your evil deeds, and that will be your downfall!"

Ianto said nothing and followed the Judoons obediently. He already knew, knew that what the Doctor wanted to avoid would inevitably come true.

Guilty or not, the Shadow Proclamation would throw them all into the rift to destroy the evidence. They already knew too much to be allowed to live.

Chapter Text

VIII   The Inevitable

"So…" they walked down the empty corridor, and Martha cautiously asked, "What happened between you and Jack?"

"Nothing," the Doctor cleared his throat, "Why do you ask?"

"Come on, I can tell something's different about Jack, and you too. It's like something has changed in your relationship."

"We… cleared up some old misunderstandings, that's all." The Doctor avoided her gaze, "Martha, in case I don't get another chance to tell you, I'm sorry. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Don't you dare," Martha warned him. "We're all going to get out of here."

"I've surely missed that optimism." The other person chuckled bitterly.

They fell silent for a moment. The Doctor led them toward the source of the anomaly he sensed with his unique perception, and occasionally they had to dodge the patrols of Judoon. This reminded Martha of their first meeting.

"Something feels off," the Doctor said after a while. "There's too little security. It might be a trap."

"The noise you heard?"

"It's not 'hearing,' it's not that simple." The Time Lord replied, peeking around the next corner to confirm it was safe. "The closer we get to the source, the clearer it becomes; it's a time anomaly. What is causing though? I can't pin point. But this isn't part of a trap since I believe that besides Time Lords, no one else can sense it. They wouldn't know such a thing exists."

"Do you think…" Martha hesitated, "Do you think the future you saw will really happen? That you'll disappear in Ground Zero?"

"I don't know," replied the Doctor, then rephrased, "To be honest, yes, I think so. Or at least it will happen in some way. Otherwise, it would be a paradox."

"But you still came back to warn Jack," said Martha softly. The Doctor merely shrugged, offering no response. The sound of footsteps around the next corner forced them to hide behind a cabinet, crouching low. Six Judoons marched by in perfect formation until they reached the end of the corridor.

Once the threat had passed, they emerged from their hiding place. But when the Doctor stood up, Martha noticed him leaning against the wall, frowning.

"Your injury," she hurried over to check on him. "It hasn't got better, has it?"

"Martha, you saw how I arrived in Cardiff. Does this count as 'not better'?" The Doctor replied lightly, sounding a bit like he was joking to hide his discomfort.

"Fair point," she decided to pretend she didn't know. "How did you get hurt in the first place?"

"In 2027, I blew up a Judoon ship." The Doctor huffed, humor creeping into his voice. "But I was too close and got caught in the explosion. The Judoons seemed very angry about it, can't imagine why."

"You blew yourself up," said Martha flatly.

"Something like that. I became an Alpha-level criminal for it," the Doctor grinned. "I think that's quite an achievement. No Time Lord has ever been classified as an Alpha-level criminal before."

"Why did you do it?"

"They were after Jack." Suddenly the Doctor's smile vanished, and his voice quieted. "I had to stop them from finding him. I chased the leading edge of the time wave back through the years to stop the Judoons." He fell silent for a few seconds. "That was my fault."

"You need to stop blaming yourself, Doctor," Martha sighed.

"You don't know what I've done." The Time Lord's expression closed off, making it clear he wouldn't accept any further rebuttal. So she changed the subject.

"Are we almost there?"

"Considering my increasingly intense headache, I think so." replied The Doctor casually, unaware of the worry his words caused. "Whatever this anomaly is, whatever Ground Zero is, it's bad. I wish I had my TARDIS."

"Oh, that reminds me… where's TARDIS?"

"Somewhere in 2032. I, uh… interfered with the Judoon's teleportation using the TARDIS and then stole a vortex manipulator they confiscated from some criminal, which I used to chase down to 2030."

"Wait…" Martha realized something, her eyes widening. "You're not joking. You really went back from 2059 all the way to this year."

"Do you think blowing up Judoons' ship once would get me upgraded to Alpha-level criminal?" The Doctor asked with a hint of humor.

"How many times? How many times did you clash with them?"

"Well… since 2059, 2053, 2049, 2048, 2046, 2040, 2037, 2032, 2030, 2027… nine times? In 2027, I realized that 2009 was when we were captured, and that we never left Ground Zero, so I jumped straight from 2027 to 2009. Just burned the last bit of energy from the vortex manipulator and fell into the sea. That thing should be at the bottom of Cardiff bay now."

"You fought against them all the way for Jack," said Martha softly, a bit in awe. She could guess why the two had reconciled. "I don't quite understand. If we were captured in 2009, why were the Judoons still hunting Jack after 2027?"

"Oh, this might be hard for you to grasp," the Doctor sighed, slightly frustrated, while eyeing the corridor signs as if looking for the right direction. "The Shadow Proclamation exists at a temporal nexus, their experience of time and space doesn't flow in the same direction as the rest of the universe. It's still linear, but that line is twisted and wobbly, intersecting with the time of the rest of the universe—those intersections are the major events they experience. When I did something foolish in 2059, their timeline became parallel to the time wave originate from 2059—the wave moves forward and backward, altering and correcting the world. My clashes with the Judoons occurred in a universe that hadn't been changed yet, but I was delayed in 2030, got hit a few times, and the time wave exceeded the speed I traveled back. The 2027 I saw was the corrected timeline—where we were captured in 2009."

"You were hit in 2030!? And you still went to blow up their ship in 2027!?"

"Ah." The Doctor looked at her with a 'I just slipped, please pretend that didn't happen' expression.

"Dear God Doctor! Do you have any sense of self-preservation?"

"That's not very important," replied the Doctor quickly.

"Not very important? When you showed up in Cardiff, you were half a step into the grave!"

"Shh!" The Doctor quickly raised a hand to silence her. A group of Judoons passed by not far away. They waited in silence, while Martha shot him an angry glare the whole time.

"After this is over, we're having a serious talk," said Martha sternly once the threat had moved on, though this time her voice was much more quiet.

"Yeah? Get in line." replied the Doctor absently. He carefully moved to the other end of the corridor, cautiously peeking at the next hallway. Martha also stuck her head out, spotting several guards stationed in the hallway. There were a few Judoons and some humanoid aliens.

"I think we need a distraction…"

Before he could finish his sentence, an explosion echoed from somewhere within the building. The two ducked around the corner just in time to see the Judoons rushing toward the sound of the blast.

"I bet that was Jack," Martha whispered, and the Doctor nodded in agreement. "Now, only those two left."

He scanned the area, noticing a seam in the wall at the corner, in the blind spot of the guards. He broke into a pleased smile—one of those smiles he wore whenever he had a brilliant plan—and worked loose a panel along the seam, revealing wires behind it. The wires were of a material Martha had never seen, with light flowing through them, intricate and complex. But it seemed no challenge for the Time Lord. In a matter of seconds, he found his target and bent one of the wires.

The corridor lights behind the guards began to flicker.

The three alien guards in the hallway turned alertly toward the disturbance, yet saw only the empty corridor. They spoke to each other in a language Martha couldn't understand, their voices urgent. Just then, the Doctor yanked another wire completely free, pulling the whole corridor into darkness.

Martha's eyes couldn't adjust to the sudden change in light. She couldn't see anything, only feeling a slightly cooler hand grasping hers and pulling her in a direction. She followed blindly until a few seconds later, her pupils dilated, and she saw the Doctor deftly and silently opening the guarded iron door, slipping inside with her.

"They should think it's a power failure caused by the explosion," the Doctor grinned at her once they were safe. "That species, did you see the structure of their eyes? They're a species with particularly poor vision in the dark, probably come from some kind of bright planet. Come on."

It was a large, blank room divided by three bright blue light barriers. Perhaps some kind of laser security shield. Through the blue screens, there was a heavy silver door at the end, looking extremely thick.

"Seems a bit odd, doesn't it?" Martha looked around, "It looks heavily guarded, yet there's not a single guard."

"Indeed." The Doctor agreed, examining the first blue light barrier right in front of them.

"What is this, some sort of shield? A laser trap?"

"No." The Doctor sniffed, leaning closer to the light barrier to the point where Martha worried he might accidentally trigger something, then frowned, "I think this is meant to prevent something from 'getting out,' rather than keeping anyone from getting in."

"Getting out? Some kind of dangerous creature?" Martha immediately became alert.

"Not a creature, possibly energy or radiation."

"What kind of energy?"

"Guess we'll find out." Before Martha could stop him, the Doctor showed a reckless smile and walked right through the first energy barrier. She was almost about to scream in fear, yet the anticipated disaster didn't happen. The Doctor passed through unscathed, as if he had passed through ordinary light.

"Doctor!" She couldn't help but protest, her tone a mix of relief and exasperation.

"Hmm…" The Doctor ignored her, his brow furrowing, "Goodness, this is worse than Jack."

"Worse than Jack? What does that mean?" Martha cautiously examined the light barrier and ultimately decided to follow him through. The light felt cool and offered no additional sensations. However, the moment she passed, a wave of disorienting, painful dizziness hit her, nearly causing her to stumble.

"Hey, Martha, look at me." The Doctor's voice came through in a somewhat blurred manner. Martha forced herself to focus on the Time Lord in front of her. He gently placed his hands on her temples. A few seconds later, the dizziness vanished.

"What was that?" Martha gasped slightly.

"Time particles," answered the Doctor absently, looking around, "That's what these shields are blocking. Very few species have resistance to this kind of energy, but the mental barrier I placed in your mind will protect you from its disorientation. This might explain why there are no guards inside." He stared thoughtfully at the metallic door behind the remaining two light barriers, " Time particles are produced by time anomalies. To create such intense fluctuations… I'd guess that's Ground Zero, the tear in time, just as I suspected. The question is, what caused the Ground Zero?"

He pondered for a moment, walked through the remaining two light barriers, and placed his hand on the silver iron door, closing his eyes. This time, Martha didn't dare to follow, watching the Doctor from a distance. The Time Lord stood still, suddenly extending his tongue to taste the air, then licking his fingers that had just been on the door.

"Ah…" The Doctor opened his eyes, "That tastes very illegal."

"You can taste whether something is illegal?"

"Of course not." The Doctor shot her a strange look, "There's a specific metallic taste in the air, like an exclusion time zone or a time lock. The Shadow Proclamation, or whoever caused this, has clearly violated some forbidden time zone. This is something anyone with a basic understanding of time knows you absolutely cannot do—it's the most serious infraction."

"What happens if they do?" asked Martha.

"Well," The Doctor pointed at the silver metal door, or what lay beyond it, "A time rift, boom! It erases everything it touches, threatening the universe. Even Time Lords wouldn't dare take that lightly."

"Wait, so the Shadow Proclamation caused this?"

"Should be. If they had only discovered an existing rift, they should have come to me to deal with it—the last of the Time Lords and all that." The Doctor wore a perplexed expression, "In fact, I met with them not long ago—after the Earth was stolen. I came here seeking information. At that time, we hadn't started… you know, arguing. Plus, the twenty-odd missing planets probably gave them a reason to temporarily forgive me for blowing their thing up the first time…"

"Doctor, Doctor, stop." Martha interrupted the Doctor's endless monologue, "You're not seeing the obvious."

"But I still stood them up… what?"

"The Shadow Proclamation is the law enforcement unit of the universe, right? A court and a United Nations rolled into one?"

"Basically, yes. But…"

"Shut up, just hold on." said Martha sternly, trying to conceal her fear, "Almost no guards, improper appeals process, hasty judgments, vague event records… and probably a significant violation they caused themselves."

"…Oh." The Doctor blinked, dropping the 'did you just tell me to shut up?' expression, suddenly turning serious, "We need to get out of here."

He understood just as she did. The Proclamation had made a mistake, done something highly illegal—related to the tear in time. Although Martha didn't know much about the politics of the universe, if this were Earth, it would be the moment the government would start covering up news, hiding scandals… even silencing the informed.

And they were the informed, the ones who could expose the Proclamation. The Time Lord and the rift of time. Both fell into a tacit state of crisis, moving silently and alertly. They retraced their steps through the light barrier to the entrance, carefully opening the door…

And saw a line of Judoons waiting outside.

"Sorry, Doctor." said Jack, hands cuffed behind his back, held by two Judoons. Ianto was similarly subdued, refusing to meet the Doctor's gaze.

"Okay." The Doctor raised his hands, turning to the woman standing behind, "Listen, whatever your issue is, let me help. I can fix this, just… let them go. They won't say a word."

"I'm very skeptical of that." Ianto murmured.

"Take them." The woman announced. Two Judoons stepped forward and restricted them. Martha glanced at the Doctor and saw him subtly shaking his head, indicating she shouldn't resist. And indeed, given the vast disparity in their situations, resistance would be pointless.

"Just listen, I can help you stabilize the technology, fix the rift, just let the others go." The Doctor tried again, "They have nothing to do with this."

"It won't help, Doctor." said Jack in a voice that was half empty, half hysterical, "We already know too much."

"You can swear you'll never speak of it, just…"

"Throw the Time Lord and humans into Ground Zero." The woman from the Shadow Proclamation said coldly, as if she hadn't heard any of the Doctor's words.

"Wait, we could make a deal, it doesn't have to be like this…"

The Judoons stepped forward, roughly cutting him off. The space police shoved them, gun barrels pressed to their backs, pushing them back into the room until they reached the last light barrier, in front of the metallic door.

Then they uncuffed Jack and Ianto and stepped back, retreating behind the light barriers, guns still aimed at them. They didn't even bother to confiscate anything from them, probably because everyone knew entering the rift was a one-way ticket.

The metallic door finally opened, revealing a blinding white light, making it impossible to see what was inside. Still, Martha felt an instinctive sense of dread, as if she were staring into a darkness filled with beasts—deadly, dangerous.

"The prisoners will enter Ground Zero." The Judoon announced, guns charged with energy, "Any attempt to escape will result in death."

Perhaps two of them weren't afraid of Judoons' weapons—or had some resistance. However, Martha knew that with her and Ianto there, the Doctor and Jack had no choice but to comply.

So she took a deep breath and grasped the Doctor's hand beside her. If she was to die, she preferred to do so on her own terms, with dignity. The Doctor looked at her, a bit surprised, then smiled.

On their other side, Ianto and Jack also did the same.

"Right then… Allons-y!"

Chapter Text

IX     in The Rift

Jack had seen many strange, bizarre, and terrifying things, but when the blinding light faded, he was still shocked by what's unfolded in front of him. It was something he had never imagined, nor could he explain.

The ground they stood on was a road made of white metal powder, scattered across an endless black ocean, almost resembling an unstable surface rather than solid ground. Gigantic, dark blue towers rose from the black sea, reaching toward the brilliant, dazzling nebula. Some towers were intact, others were damaged, and between them, strange spacecrafts flew by the alien buildings around. The ships wove through the debris of the structures at odd angles, moving in a continuous stream. Some buildings were like towers built upon the sea, while others were upside down, and some were simply tilted, floating in the air. The architectural styles were all different—without a doubt, none were from Earth. Jack recognized only one or two of them. One distant floating house looked suspiciously like the square sandcastle he had lived in as a child, and another seemed vaguely like the conglomeration he'd seen while traveling with the Doctor.

"What is this place, the Doctor?" he couldn't help but ask.

"A rift, containing various fragments of space... oh."

Jack turned his head, following the Doctor's gaze, and saw that Ianto was pressing his other hand to his temple, looking in pain. He immediately supported Ianto's face, cursing himself for not noticing the abnormality sooner.

"Ianto? Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"Jack." The Doctor patted his shoulder to signal him to step aside, then lowered himself to Ianto's level. The Time Lord placed both his hands on the sides of Ianto's temples, closing his eyes. A few seconds later, Ianto's expression eased, and he opened his eyes.

"Thanks." He nodded at the Doctor, frowning slightly. "What was that?"

"Temporal turbulence," the Doctor glanced at Jack and Martha, explaining to them as well. "Ianto, Martha, sorry, I need to temporarily remove your sense of time. This will make it difficult for you to perceive the passing of time. But in this kind of maelstrom, it's the only way to keep you from becoming dizzy."

"It feels like... like I'm standing in a raging stream, and one wrong step could get me swept away by the rapids," admitted Ianto, then asked, "What about Jack?"

"I feel nothing," said Jack, confused.

"Of course you don't," the Doctor shrugged. "Fixed point in time, remember? You're like a huge iron stake stuck in the stream, unaffected by the flow of water."

"Wait, if the dizziness is caused by a disturbance in the sense of time..." Martha frowned. "Doctor, you're the one who can calculate time to the millisecond."

"At least to 0.1 milliseconds," the Doctor corrected, then added, "Honestly, I'm used to it."

He gazed at the sky, those towering structures, the rapidly flying vessels, his hands in his pockets.

"Time has always been a torrent for me. When I'm on Earth, I can feel the ground spinning at over 1,000 kilometres per hour. I can hear water molecules rising into the sky, colliding, dissipating momentum, and then condensing. Every person, every breeze, is like a snapshot, and as time flows, it forms into a picture. I'm constantly standing in a stream up to my knees, walking against it, feeling every moment, every second, flowing past me..."

He paused, glancing at them, adding, "The difference now is that it's a torrent up to my waist. As I said, not much of a difference."

They all stared at him.

"What?" Noticing the silence, the Doctor asked.

"If that's how you see the world, Doctor... no wonder you never stop moving," Jack shook his head, trying to shake off the thoughts. "So, back to the question, where are we?"

"A rift, a tear in reality," replied the Doctor. "Very dangerous. This rift has sucked in debris from the surrounding universe. Those ships? They're just echoes, a fleeting second from some ship at some point in time, like a shutter snap, a film projection whizzing by. This situation cannot be stable."

"I know Ground Zero is a rift in time—but I didn't expect it to be this bad. This must be caused by a serious time manipulation error, maybe some broken fixed point or time lock... question is, which one?"

"13-27-17:03, 10-0-11-00:11."

The Doctor turned around dramatically, eyes wide as he stared at Jack, who had just recited the time coordinates. Jack's tone was calm, trying to mask the fear he felt inside. The Doctor looked at him and, without asking him to repeat the coordinates for confirmation, merely blinked, his surprise gradually shifting into full alertness.

"Then we're in big trouble."

"What is that, Doctor?" asked Martha, yet the Doctor didn't answer. He turned and walked briskly forward, muttering to himself, "Stupid, stupid! How could they be so stupid to mess with that time lock? No wonder this rift has gotten so bad!"

"The Last Great Time War, Martha," Jack caught up, explaining to the others. "The final battle between the Time Lords and the Daleks. Two of the most powerful races in the universe, with the most advanced time travel technology. Both sides set up time locks to prevent the other from altering history—causing the time and space in this period to be locked up under multiple layers of complex locks. Powerful, but dangerously balanced."

"We believe they tried to steal time travel technology from the Time War," added Ianto. "What should we do, Doctor?"

Jack noticed that this was the first time Ianto had asked the Doctor for advice.

"We find Ground Zero," replied the Doctor, leading the way without looking back. "This rift must have a starting point. If we can find it and fix it—likely some Time Lord technology—everything might return to normal. However, it'll be very dangerous."

"What kind of danger?" asked Martha, following the Doctor.

"Various kinds. The instability of the rift itself, the debris and hostile species that have been sucked in. With this degree of time distortion, we might even encounter Reapers." The Doctor explained. "Reapers are time creatures drawn by anomalies—they're like bacteria, and when they find a wound in time, they start to eat away the reality. Everything they touch disappears without a trace. In a way, they function like bacteria decomposing decaying matter, eliminating the error to maintain time stability."

"I've never heard of these things," Jack frowned.

"Because in the past, the Time Lords would fix errors before things ever got this bad. When a time error is corrected, the Reapers disappear. Yet if it gets bad enough... even the TARDIS is powerless."

"Can we detect them coming?" Ianto asked.

"Just look around," the Doctor gestured toward the vast space. "Anything change?"

They slowed their pace, observing the surroundings. Although it still looked incredibly surreal and dazzling, upon closer inspection, they could see some things had disappeared. Jack noticed, for example, that the building that had reminded him of his childhood house had vanished from the air, and several black towers had begun losing their edges, as if parts had evaporated into thin air.

"They're already here," murmured Martha, noticing as well.

"The good news is that there are so many anomalies here, it will take them a long time to notice us," the Doctor said, slowing his pace. "The bad news is, we don't know where to look."

"I thought..." Jack said. "You seem confident."

"We were just at the entrance," the Time Lord turned back, raising an eyebrow. "There was only one direction—inward."

Indeed, there had only been one path of white dust behind them. The further they walked, the firmer and wider the ground became, as though they were moving from a road on a lake to the grassy plains at the shore.

"Will this help?" Jack asked, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"And this." Ianto took the vortex manipulator out from his sleeve. At this, the Doctor gave him a meaningful glance yet said nothing. He took both items, first using the screwdriver to repair the manipulator, and then tossed it to Jack.

"It won't work here, the time flow is too strong, you can't travel any distance. But it might be useful later." The Doctor then began using the sonic screwdriver to scan the area and, after a few seconds, chose a direction. "It's likely in this area. In this situation, even the sonic screwdriver is struggling to function."

"How vast the area do we need to search?" asked Martha, following the Doctor. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"I suspect it's something that exploded, some machine, related to time," replied the Doctor. "The range... an entire planet? A large area."

"Oh, that's not good," Jack frowned. "How much time do we have before the Reapers find us?"

"That depends on luck," the Doctor answered casually. "But the Reapers aren't what I'm most worried about."

"What'll that be?"

"You said the time coordinates are 13-27-17:03, right?" He nodded. "If my guess is correct, we have about two or three days."

"Do those coordinates have any specific meaning? Apart from being from the Time War?"

"Jack, you used to be a conman who profited from time travel... no offense but it's true," said the Doctor. "You must know what's the safest situation to steal from."

Jack thought for a moment and then understood.

"From a place about to be destroyed," he murmured, then looked at Martha and Ianto, explaining, "Stealing from time always risks destabilizing time, and the thing you take might have some importance in the future. How do you make sure you won't change anything? It's simple. For example, if you steal a chair from Pompeii, future generations will never know."

"So, we're probably in an area about to face destruction," Martha nodded in understanding, her expression serious.

"Then we'd better find what we need quickly," Ianto summed up.

"Yeah... it's not that simple," said the Doctor, looking up and scanning the surroundings. "Time rifts are... complicated."

This time, he didn't need to elaborate. The area they were walking through was gradually changing, like watercolour paint bleeding across the page. Some things gradually filled the space, while others disappeared. In the distance behind them, they could still see the void, but ahead of them was a whole new world—yellowish earth, stone pillars bent at strange angles forming half-arches. The ground had irregular black ponds, and scattered ruins in the distance, resembling the wreckage of a crashed spaceship.

"Anything too close to the rift could be torn out of time, leaving a small echo of it scattered in the rift. It could be part of a planet or a section of a spaceship, like snapshots cut out and awkwardly stitched together."

"So, we might walk from one planet to another—without even being sure if we're going in the right direction," Jack caught on.

"Exactly." The Doctor scanned the area again with the sonic screwdriver, then set off in the next direction. "Come on, we don't have much time, and the road ahead is long."

Chapter Text

X      The Void

After almost half a day—at least Jack thought it was half a day—he realized that water and food might be a problem.

It's true that humans can survive without water or food for two days or more, but that's without taking into account the long distances they've travelled. What's more, they had already experienced a hellish few days before this. Jack noticed that both Ianto and Martha were looking sluggish. All conversation of any kind had ceased hours ago. He was also worried that the Doctor—the Time Lord was still injured. Nevertheless, the Doctor's pace still seemed steady and swift.

Perhaps the lack of words was also an indicator. Whatever special stamina the strange biology of being a Time Lord gave him, the Doctor would never stop talking if he had a choice. Based on this, Jack couldn't help but think that perhaps they had never realized how long the Doctor could be under high pressure and still appear to be unshaken as usual—which raised another unnecessary concern.

"Doctor!" Jack decided to be the one to speak and stopped the Time Lord who was walking at the front. "We may need to stop for a while."

They were on an industrial planet. It might not be accurate to say it was a planet. Judging from the size, this m might ay be a highly industrialized satellite. The ground was made of red copper-coloured metal, and the buildings were also glowing with golden light, yet there was no one around.

Not every place they arrived was deserted. Three planets ago, the streets were bustling with people—which made them even more uneasy. Those people were like fragments of a movie, some afterimages. They looked normal at first, until after a few seconds they suddenly disappeared and reappeared at the beginning of the clip. "Echoes," the Doctor explains. They were like a short plot cut from a video tape and kept playing back. It was also obvious that the closer you were to the Ground Zero, the longer the fragments of echo would be. Although there was no one on the last planet, there were always some small animals running by their feet. According to Jack's observation, the repeating segments on the previous planet lasted about five minutes.

Hearing Jack's request, the Doctor looked back at them, then led them wordlessly toward the shadows, closer to the building.

"Wait here," said the Time Lord, and strode into the building without saying a word. The other three hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to sit down and rest outside the building as they were instructed. The Doctor didn't look panicked as he left but with a calm confidence—leading them to believe that there was no immediate danger.

Indeed, five minutes later, the Time Lord came back with water and food in his hands and handed them to them.

"How did you find these, Doctor?" Jack took a grateful sip of water, which tasted like ordinary drinking water.

"In the building. Although the echo of time is just an echo, it still has a real effect on living organisms." The Doctor also sat down cross-legged, only drank water and did not take any food. He paused and then added, "This also means that if we encounter hostile creatures attacking us later, the same logic will apply. I think I need to warn you about this first."

Jack suddenly felt that his appetite had decreased slightly.

"Where is this, Doctor? Do you recognize it?" Martha cleared her throat and changed the subject.

"Pazithi. An industrial satellite. I've been here, a long time ago." Perhaps anticipating their next question, he added, "During the war, this place was cleared, so there was no one around."

"Time War?" asked Jack, receiving a shake of the head but no further answer.

"Doctor, do you know our exact destination?" asked Ianto. Indeed, after a while, every time they encountered a crossroads between the stars, the Doctor hesitated longer and longer, as if he was becoming more and more unsure of where they were.

Their journey was beyond bizarre. Every time they walked, they arrive at a new place. They would walk around that new planet or space for a while—sometimes it felt like only a few hundred meters, sometimes it felt like more than ten kilometres—and then the environment would begin to fade until they returned to the space they originally saw, that white road between the stars. What's disturbing was that every time they returned to the stars, the surroundings become more and more empty, and the original items gradually disappeared, as if something wa slowly devouring everything—Jack could probably guess what it was.

And the road between the stars wa no longer a straight line. Every time passed through a new space, the road became more complicated, with winding forks and branch lines gradually forming a maze. They rely on the Doctor's judgment, yet even the Doctor was increasingly unsure of their direction.

"I know the destination." the Doctor answered Ianto's question, "but how to get there... The closer we get to the Ground Zero, the more chaotic the resonance of the time flow becomes. If it was originally a flood in one direction, now we are gradually falling into a vortex. Everything... To be honest, it's getting harder and harder to tell."

Oh, that's not good.

"Where is our destination?"

No response. The Doctor's expression was closed, indicating that he was unwilling to answer this question.

"Okay." To be honest, Jack had some suspicions in his mind, "By the way, why does the Shadow Proclamation think I can solve the problem?"

"There is a chance of solving..." the Time Lord looked at him, "You are immortal─or very close to it. The Reapers, they are responsible for swallowing anomalies and repairing time rifts. The speed they swallow anything mainly depends on the age of the objects and their complexity in the timeline. For you, Jack, this means that they have to take a long time—possibly years or more—to consume you, and the energy generated does have a chance to balance out this time rift and repair the wound."

"Bit like a Band-Aid," concluded Jack.

"Yeah, pretty much."

They fell silent again. The Doctor looked at the horizon, waiting for them to replenish their energy, his expression distant. The deeper they went into the time rift, the more and more gloomy he became, giving Jack the feeling that he clearly knew every planet they passed. No matter how hesitant he was in the void, once he went to a new environment, the Time Lord's footsteps and direction would become decisive, as if he knew these streets. When they were almost done eating, the Doctor stood up and urged them on their way.

"Come on, we have to move on. As far as I know, this planet was destroyed by an atmospheric flare at some point during the war."

This prompted them to continue to follow without complaint.

The road of copper-coloured metal stretches endlessly. This area was one of the larger type, and it wasn't until nearly two hours later—by Jack's estimate—that the buildings slowly faded and became transparent. Stars began to appear around them again, and huge, half-tilted towers leaned across the space crooked beams. The entire void was now a real void—everything felt very empty. There was some kind of black shadow flying among the stars in the distance, like a distant swarm of bats.

Now the silver-white road was almost merging into a whole white carpet, and there was almost no direction at all. The Doctor moved forward in a certain direction, but his pace became slower and slower until he stopped. He scanned the area with his sonic screwdriver, yet after two or three minutes he still seemed undecided.

"Are we..." They almost didn't have to ask, but Martha still couldn't seem to resist the question.

"Lost, yes." The Doctor frowned, tapped the sonic screwdriver, and looked in a certain direction. They looked up and saw the "swarm of bats" that Jack had just noticed. They all guessed what it was, and suddenly, this silent void looked dangerous.

"The time and space here is too torn apart, and the noise covers up any direction that I or the sonic screwdriver can feel." The Time Lord pondered thoughtfully and turned to look at Jack, "But if there is a fixed point..."

"What do you need?" Jack immediately stood up straight.

"Take my hand." The Doctor held out his hands.

He complied, right before pulled back at the last moment and put his hands behind his back. "Wait, this will still hurt you, won't it? You haven't fully recovered?"

The other man opened his mouth, only for Jack to cut it off before he could speak, "Don't lie to me, Doctor."

"…Yes."

"There must be some other way. Maybe...I don't know, use the sonic screwdriver..."

"Look." Ianto interrupted them, pointing into the distance. They looked up and saw the group of "bats" beginning to gather in their direction and flying over quickly.

"They've noticed us," the Doctor hissed, "Jack, hands."

"but…"

"Hurry!"

Even Jack knew they had no choice. The deadly creatures were approaching at an alarming rate. He reached out his hands and let the Time Lord grasp it firmly. The Doctor closed his eyes, pursed his lips tightly, and turned pale. Jack could tell that the other person was in pain. His tense face trembled, and the strength of his grip was like he was holding on to the last steel rope on the edge of a cliff, but the steel rope was a red-hot iron chain. His breaths became faster and harsher each time until he almost felt like he was hyperventilating.

Just when Jack couldn't stand it and about to stop the contact, the Doctor suddenly opened his eyes and let go of him.

"This way!"

He started running diagonally forward. Not the most ideal position, as it put the Reapers at their ten o'clock position—closing the distance more quickly. Yet at this time, they can only trust the Time Lord. The white road stretched before them, reaching towards the stars, leading them into the depths of darkness. They ran wildly, and could faintly hear the flapping of wings, turning and rushing toward them, getting closer and closer. The surroundings began to change, turning into colourful sand and crystal-like mountains in the distance. The sky was a dreamy blue-purple, adding further fairy tale colour to the entire land.

This didn't stop the Reapers. These creatures chased them into the same space, raising large amounts of sand and dust hundreds of meters behind them. The Doctor didn't stop either. Whatever he had just located through Jack, they hadn't arrived yet. Jack—as he ran—secretly wondered if anything could stop these creatures. However at this moment, there was nothing else to do but run for their lives.

The colourful sand only lasted a few hundred meters before starting to fade. They soon entered the empty darkness again. Waiting for them in that void were more of the Reapers. Just as the creatures chasing them called to their companions, more of the Reapers came from all directions. Jack realized they wouldn't succeed in escaping.

There was another way. The Doctor said it would take years, maybe longer, to devour him. If he stopped...

"Don't you dare, Jack!" the Doctor shouted before he could even try to slow down, no doubt reading his thoughts.

"We're not going to make..."

"This way!" the Time Lord ignored him, and instead led them in a sharp turn towards the direction where the Reapers were densest. The creatures swooped down from the sky, their sharp claws spread wide. The sound of wings rent the air and plummeted above them. Five meters, four meters, three meters, two...

Almost as soon as they could feel the hair on the back of their necks being touched by those sharp claws, they plummeted into the next space. Unlike other areas, this time there was no gradual change, but an instant change like jumping into a door. They sprinted through the reddish-brown soil and short red grass beneath their feet, then slowed down with the Doctor. Jack looked back nervously and found that the creatures did not follow, only flapped their wings and hovered angrily a few meters away, as if they were blocked by transparent glass.

"What...how..." Martha was undoubtedly very surprised. Her voice had not yet recovered from the nervousness and running breath, and she still maintained a tight tone. She looked warily at the creatures outside, "Are they stopped by...? Doctor!"

Her scream caused Jack to turn around and see the moment the Time Lord collapsed without any warning. He felt his heart skip a beat, and remembered the moment he rushed forward that he was doing the other person no good.

"Doctor? Oh my God, can you hear me?" Martha carefully turned the Time Lord upright, putting her arm around his neck and head to support, and using her other hand to check for a pulse. Ianto glanced at Jack, and then without hesitation knelt on the other side of Martha, helping her adjust the posture of the fallen man so that she could conduct a complete examination.

"Both hearts are still beating, fast but steady." said Martha quickly, her fingers deftly inspecting any possible injuries. "Without a thermometer, I can't tell whether his body temperature is high or low. My guess is that it is lower than normal—much lower..."

Jack watched from behind, feeling a little sick. He saw that the Doctor's hands were red, as if they had been scalded by boiling water. That was his fault. He swallowed his self-blame and anxiety, and turned to look warily at the creatures flying outside and the surrounding environment. Red soil, short russet grass, orange sky.

"Ianto, help me hold him up," he heard Martha instruct. The other person did as he told, allowing her to remove the Doctor's trench coat. Without unbuttoning the rest of the clothes, they could see some dried and some fresh blood stains already through the shirt and suit. Jack and Martha cursed under their breath in sync. They could all tell that this was not a new trace. In other words, the Doctor led them for more than half a day without saying a word while the wound had not yet healed and was still bleeding slowly. Idiot.

"This idiot." Martha undoubtedly had the same idea and whispered angrily before looking up at them again, "But these injuries have been there for several days. I think he was unconscious due to other factors."

"It may also be that he was finally exhausted." guessed Ianto, while Martha shook her head, "I think there are more factors, which will require a more complete examination to know."

"We should still bandage him."

"Not now." Jack disagreed, his eyes still locked on the creatures outside—they began hitting the invisible wall with violent force, "We have to go."

The three of them exchanged glances and agreed with this statement. Regardless of why those creatures were unable to enter this space, they should not assume that this would last forever. Ianto voluntarily took the task of carrying the Doctor. Jack wasn't up to the job, and no matter how thin the Time Lord looked, he still had some weight. They were at the beginning of a gentle slope, only about two hundred meters away from the top of the hill. Jack's attention was first focused on the Time Lord in another man's arms, and noticed with concern that his eyes were closed and his expression was distorted, as if he was in an endless nightmare. Then his attention turned to his surroundings, truly taking in their environment. The short red grass stretched endlessly to the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The forest was a crystal silvery white, shining like it was on fire under the twin stars in the sky.

"The leaves are silver..." Martha whispered softly to attract their attention. "The forest will be like on fire as the suns rise and the mountains will shine."

"What?" Jack blinked.

"I've heard the Doctor describe her like this." She said in a tone of wonder and disbelief, "But I never thought she could be so beautiful..."

"Wait, you mean this is..."

"Yes." They climbed to the top of the hill, and the breath-taking scenery unfolded at a glance. The silver-blue river crosses the entire land covered with red short grass, and the magnificent mountains on the far side were covered with white snow. The wind blew over, and the silver woods sounded a pleasant melody. The twin stars were just above the horizon, just rising. There was a city in the distance, in the center of a bottomless trench, covered by a huge transparent protective shield. The buildings inside reflect the sunshine, standing majestic, advanced and proud.

"Gallifrey."

Chapter Text

XI     The City

They had only gone forward for half an hour. With neither Jack nor Martha able to help, this was the farthest distance Ianto could carry an adult male. Finally, they found a large, silvery, lush tree and rested under its branches.

Jack offered the first watch. While the Doctor was asleep...or in coma, it would be best for them to get some rest as well. Martha treated the Time Lord's wounds while he was unconscious—not much could be done without any tools—and quickly fell asleep. It had been an exhausting few days for each of them.

However, Ianto had something to say. He moved a little further away and spoke quietly to Jack.

"Regarding the vortex manipulator... I'm sorry I wasn't telling the truth," he said. "The Doctor told me at the time that if I adjusted the setting to zero, I could get both of us back to Cardiff."

Jack looked at him with an expression that was hard to read.

"I considered, for a moment, taking us back to Cardiff as he asked. Eventually..." Ianto admitted softly, "I looked at you and knew I couldn't do it—knowing that if I had really done that to you, you would have never forgiven me."

"I'm glad you didn't." Jack simply replied softly.

"Tell me, Jack." Ianto chose his words carefully, "Do I... owe the Doctor an apology?"

The other person just raised an eyebrow at him and asked without saying a word.

"My accusation against him was that he didn't stay after Canary Wharf... Despites, in fact, we Torchwood have been doing the same thing." He spoke slowly, "It's like what Gwen said when she just joined, that none of us cared about what our actions left behind. When you spend so much energy fighting aliens and making the most difficult choices, we... all of us, just don't dare to look back. Look back at the people we can't save. How many people have died because of our decisions? We never stopped to think about that. In the past, Torchwood One always regarded the Doctor as a terrifying all-powerful enemy. Yet in fact, he's just like us." He said with a self-deprecating smile, "Better than us, actually, because he cares more than we do."

"Yes." said Jack, his voice low and soft, "Yes, I think he doesn't dare to look back."

He was silent for a few more seconds, then began to explain.

"Ianto, I know you are not familiar with the Doctor. This silent, wordless, and gloomy man today, this is not him. Or rather, this is him, the deepest and most primitive loneliness, just doesn't bother to hide it."

Ianto blinked and realized that besides their initial exclamation after arriving at Gallifrey, Martha and Jack had also suddenly become gloomy. That's very similar to the Doctor's silence.

"When we arrived on Gallifrey, I finally understood." Jack looked into the sky with a distant tone, "Those places we passed before, why the Doctor is so familiar with the streets. Those were the neighbour stars and satellites of Gallifrey, Ianto. Every single one. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to walk those streets."

He looked at him, his tone was very soft and cautious, "You know, on some of the worst days, we will have to sacrifice some people to save the others. Like Jasmine, like Tommy, those ones we choose to sacrifice."

Ianto nodded. This was the darkest and most overwhelming part of the job, because no one could make these choices for them.

"Gallifrey... this is… was the home of the Doctor, where his people lived. Hundreds of years ago, the universe was in the midst of the Time War—the war between the Time Lords and the Daleks, the two most powerful races. Their war destroyed countless civilizations around it, and even spread to the deepest parts of the universe. The Doctor has always refused to participate in the war..." Jack swallowed, "However, in the end, he could not ignore the pain and suffer of the people in the universe. He had to made that ultimate decision."

He raised his gaze and looked directly into Ianto's eyes, "As far as I know, he destroyed Gallifrey with his own hands—along with the Daleks who were conducting the largest attack at that time."

"Jesus Christ." Ianto gasped.

"I'm worried, Ianto," Jack admitted with difficulty, "and I think Martha is, too. What returning to a Gallifrey echo means to the Doctor. He's been through so much these days... I'm worried..."

He took a deep breath, "I'm worried he won't be able to take it."

They were silent, looking at the Time Lord who was still in a coma. Ianto felt that he no longer had any resentment towards him—only pity and sympathy. A man dedicated to peace and kindness was forced to make such a terrible decision. Who, after experiencing something like that, dares to look back at the regret and pain they have left behind?

After a moment, Jack cleared his throat to remove the hoarseness from his voice.

"Go get some rest, Ianto, there's no need for both of us to be awake. I'll wake you later."

He could only do as he was told. And when he was about to sink into unconscious sleep, in the confusion between the waking and dream, he felt a deep sadness. For everyone they choose to sacrifice, for every innocent soul they were too late to save—and ultimately, for the stumbling, lonely, traumatized pace of the last of the Time Lord in the universe.

◎◎◎

Martha was the last person on watch. According to Jack's vortex manipulator, they each slept about four hours. In the fifth hour, she sat next to the Doctor, looking at the glass city in the distance.

There was a slight movement, and Jack came to her side. Ianto was still sleeping. He took the second shift and was still on his second break.

"Do you think... we will encounter other Time Lords?" Martha asked in a lower voice.

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "We've been through two more worlds since we last saw any living thing. I don't know how long an echo will last at the very center, here."

"Long enough," said another voice, startling them. The two turned around and found that it was the Doctor who had sit up at some point. "How long have I been out?"

"About five and half hours," Jack answered, looking at his vortex manipulator as Martha asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Telepathic shock." the Time Lord frowned slightly and rubbed the back of his neck, "I think the time cycle on Gallifrey—especially in the middle of the city—should last almost until the end."

"The end?"

"13-27-17:03." the Doctor replied, "The time coordinates you gave me, Jack. The last two days before the end of the Time War. If it's been five and a half hours since we arrived, then we have only the last day and a half left…or less."

He paused and added, "To be precise, maybe only half a day before this place completely descends into chaos and turns into purgatory."

"Then we'd better get on our way. I'll wake Ianto up."

They quickly set off, heading towards the city along the forest path.

"That's Arcadia." After a period of silence, the Doctor spoke suddenly, "The second largest city on Gallifrey. It's still very peaceful now—Arcadia's sky trenches were once hailed as the greatest defence in the universe. I think we still have half a day.”

"What happened?" asked Martha, wondering what they might face next.

"Daleks."

Of course.

"Doctor, I have to know," she said, "What just happened?"

"Gallifrey itself has a defence against the Reapers, even if it's just an echo."

"Oh, that's good to know." Martha shook her head, "But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about why you suddenly pasted out."

"Ah." the Doctor paused, "It's not important, I'm fine now."

"As your doctor, I want to make sure that doesn't happen again," she insisted. "You said telepathic shock, what is that?"

The Time Lord gave her an unreadable look, and then began to explain in a deliberately flat tone.

"We Time Lords are telepathic beings. We sense all others of our kind." He said emotionlessly, "When I... when I destroyed Gallifrey, I could feel every link torn, silenced, left a huge blank in my mind. But here, this echo, the return of tens of millions of connection in just one second, and all just afterimages of errors, distorted and broken fragments. Not even my brain can handle millions of false messages coming in at once."

He kept his gaze forward, still no emotion in his voice.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Yes." Martha swallowed and instantly felt regretful, "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine." said the Doctor, changing the subject, "This...Ground Zero, I have a few ideas. I don't think it's a weapon. The Shadow Proclamation wants time technology, not weapons."

"Like the TARDIS," said Jack. In response, the Time Lord stopped.

"Actually, it's probably a TARDIS." He tilted his head, thought for a moment, and stepped forward again, "They knew they could never get into my TARDIS—oh they really tried. However, during the War—time locks and all—the Time Lords' TARDIS mostly sat idle beneath the city, unused. The problem is, a TARDIS shouldn't have...exploded."

"Exploded? I thought the crack was because of the time lock."

"When you challenge a time lock and make a mistake, what you do is like cracking a crack in an egg." The Doctor shook his head, "The Reapers will be attracted to it and erase things that shouldn't be there, that's all. To have sucked so much echo into the rift, even all of Arcadia... there must be something more serious involved. It is like... after the rift was opened, the Shadow Proclamation reached in and tried to steal something before the Reapers arrived. But it caused a more serious explosion."

"A ground zero of an explosion."

"Yes."

"But, Doctor, isn't TARDIS prone to explode?" asked Martha, "I mean, while you're driving..."

"Oh ho ho, chose your words wisely, Martha Jones." the Time Lord gave a little joking warning.

"She has a point." Jack undoubtedly noticed this and added—they both knew that at this moment, the Doctor needed some distraction, even a little inappropriate joke, "Remember how many times you went to a wrong date, Doctor? And that very bumpy flight and landing..."

"A TARDIS is designed to be operated by six people. Do you know how admirable it is to operate a TARDIS alone?"

"But you did say that you failed the TARDIS license test." Martha scoffed in a friendly way and gently bumped the Doctor's waist with her elbow.

"That's...that's..." the Doctor raised his hands in embarrassment and gestured meaninglessly until he gave up, "Okay, okay!"

"OH, MY, GOD!" Jack's eyes widened in excitement, "He has mocked my vortex manipulator so many times, but he is actually driving without a license!"

"Hey! Anyway, the TARDIS is still more stable than your space hopper!" the Doctor protested, "Back to the safety issue. The TARDIS has designed a stable space-time loop to ensure that the time vortex is in a stable state. Simply in other words, it's very difficult to make a TARDIS explode!"

"So it might not be a TARDIS."

"Yes! Thank you, Ianto."

"Oh no," Jack objected, "Ianto, you haven't been in the Doctor's TARDIS. You know, one time he landed so violently that I was thrown over the edge of the railing and hit the floor below—I got a concussion from it!”

"Yes, but that's because half of your body was outside the railing, busy flirting with the temporary passengers on the lower level, the alien species we just rescued." The Doctor revealed mercilessly, "And that's not a concussion either. Bruises at best."

"I have to take the Doctor's word for it here." Martha smiled. "Sorry, Jack, that's too much like what you would do."

"Ianto? A little help?"

"You do flirt with any species, Jack. Besides, like you said, I haven't been in the TARDIS."

"Hey, three against one, that's not fair."

"Not fair? I'm telling you what. Ianto you won't believe this. One time Jack came to visit my house and I went answer a phone call and came back, only to find him flirting with my mother and my sister at the same time. Can you believe this man?"

"Oh believe me, I know exactly what kind of man he is."

◎◎◎

"Listen." The atmosphere along the way was a little more relaxed than before—thanks to Jack's five hundred unseemly stories. Yet they also knew that this was just the Doctor allowing them to distract him. He suspected that even the Time Lord himself knew he needed someone to distract him. It wasn't until they were less than a kilometre away from the outer edge of the trench that the Doctor drew their attention back to the situation.

"This is a sensitive time, Gallifrey is at war. Try not to draw too much attention." He paused, "Jack, I'm sorry, I must say... even if it's just an echo, every one of the Time Lords will notice you. Just pretend you're a problem I need to bring to the central lab to solve, is that alright?"

"Oh of course, because I am 'wrong'." Jack joked lightly, then noticed the Doctor flinching. Oh shit, the other man was worried about his feelings, and he replied in the worst possible way. "Sorry, bad joke. Of course it's fine. "

"No, that's fair." said the Doctor bitterly, continuing without giving him a chance to refute, "Also, at a certain point in time, a certain version of me will appear in Arcadia. I can't have any contact with him—A half-second touch will cause enough paradoxes to make the Reapers break in and devour everything—including us. Unfortunately, during the Time War, my reputation became somewhat... well. In short, some saw me as a pacifist, some saw me as a coward; some people saw me as a hero, but many more hated me to the core." He cleared his throat, "My point is, don't call me Doctor, that will cause trouble. Just call me Theta. "

"Theta? Is that your real name?" As they all knew, the Doctor's real name was a secret—a dangerous secret.

"No, it's just a nickname from when I was young." Faced with their curious looks, he added, "Young, really really young—when I my age was still in double digits. Before I became the Doctor."

"Theta, got it."

After the explanation, the Doctor led them towards the entrance of the sky trench. There were several guards and a teleportation device at the entrance. Seeing them approaching, the guards raised their gun. Jack noticed at least two of them looking at him with strange, disbelieving, almost disgusting looks.

When the Doctor spoke, it wasn't English—it was Gallifreyan. One of the guards answered briefly, and then the Doctor said something again. Eventually, they were allowed to stand on the teleportation platform.

the Time Lord quickly operated the panel and adjusted parameters. A few seconds later, they felt a slight vibration, and then a burst of blue light flooded the platform at their feet. The next moment, they were already inside the sky trench, facing the next inspection procedure. The Doctor repeated what he had told the guards outside and gestured in Jack's direction. Jack suspected that the reason he used was related to his "abnormality".

A few minutes later, they finally entered the streets of Arcadia, entered the last day of Arcadia.

Chapter Text

XII    The Echo

Walking the streets of Gallifrey again was not as pleasant as it sounded. This place was wrong—every step of it. The Doctor was used to the flow of time, to the entangled, complicated but complete timeline. Everything here was broken and distorted, making every cell in him scream "wrong."

That's not the worst part.

He felt like he was walking on broken glass and fragmented time with every step he took—this was a physical feeling. What's worse was that he felt like he's also walking knee-deep in ashes, trudging through the sludge of blood—in his own sin. No matter how unusual this place was in the sense of time, it looked, sound, smelled like Gallifrey. The home he destroyed.

Everyone here was killed by him with his own hands.

The Doctor had never felt that the light of the Twin Suns looked so much like blood. The orange sky brought him no comfort but an insinuation of sin. It was as if this land was dyed with the blood of the Time Lords, the sin enough to silence the universe. And the person who committed that was...

"Doctor!" Martha's low-volume but urgent and worried voice suddenly called him back to consciousness. He blinked and met her gaze.

"What?"

"You have been standing there for a minute." She said carefully, "You have not responded to our calls."

"Ah." the Doctor cleared his throat and forced down his dark thoughts, "I'm thinking, that's all."

With that said, he took steps again.

"What did you just say to me?"

"Where are we going? Do you have any plans?"

"I told them that I would take you to deal with Jack's... situation." He replied, "Any Time Lord can sense that Jack is unusual, and also knows that this is not something that can be solved by anyone alone. Therefore, I have enough reasons to seek the help of more complex technology—most of the time technology was stored under the central tower, and the thing we are looking for is most likely to be there."

"What kind of trouble do we expect?" asked Ianto. The Doctor frowned.

"Why are you expecting troubles?"

"Which time, Theta, did we not encounter trouble while traveling with you?" Jack joked. He couldn't help but glare at him.

"Okay." However, he also knew that things would never go smoothly. "To be honest, I don't know."

After a pause, something came to mind.

"One thing. Absolutely, under no circumstances, tell anyone that we are in an echo." the Doctor warned, "Any Time Lord can feel the abnormality. The only reason they haven't noticed is that the rules don't allow it—Anomalies are not allowed to know that they are anomalous. If any of the Time Lords remembers, they will immediately realize how wrong the echo was—and further, self-contradictions and paradoxes might result. Everything'll falls apart further. It's a fragile balance."

"Got it." The other three nodded.

"Come on." the Doctor noticed the device on the side of the road. Arcadia was a big city and walking to the center would take a lot of time. Fortunately, they had technology—or the echo of technology. He walked to the automatic platform and entered Central Council as his destination. A few seconds later, a silver plate flew to their feet.

"Stand up. A word of advice, hold on to the handrail."

"What is this?" asked Martha.

"Transportation." The Doctor grinned, knowing exactly what it would be like for an inexperienced person to ride on this autonomous transport board for the first time.

The moment they grabbed on the handrail, the board charged out, speeding through the city along the set route. The Doctor stood still easily and heard frightened screams of the the three. After a few seconds, the panic gradually turned to laughter.

"Oh my god, are you Time Lords all speed addicts?" Martha exclaimed happily while giggling amidst the strong wind.

"There is no reason not to use the high speed. This is an auto-controlled transport. The routes are all set and there are complete safety measures." the Doctor raised his voice to be heard in the wind, "However...well, in the past, there had been at least twenty petitions about reducing the speed of this vehicle, but some people still insisted that the original speed was more... pleasant."

"Some people?"

"For example, me." He admitted amusedly.

"Figured."

Relying on the convenient transportation, they quickly arrived at the archives entrance of the Central Tower. Two guards guarded the front.

"Hi, I have a... um, difficult case to deal with." The Doctor roughly pointed at Jack's direction, "It's better to deal with things that will cause instability as soon as possible."

The soldier on the right looked at Jack and then at the others.

"What about these two?"

"Timelines intertwined. They are related to this "anomaly", it's best to stabilize their timelines at the same time. "

This reason was accepted. They nodded.

"Go inside. The Librarian will help you out."

The Doctor nodded his thanks and swallowed. Damn, this isn't good.

"Theta, what's wrong?" Jack noticed his expression and asked quietly as they walked into the corridor.

"I didn't know that the person in charge of the archives during this period was the Librarian," he replied. "She knew me."

"But this face of yours has never seen hers, has it?" Martha asked.

"Telepathic creatures, remember?" replied the Doctor helplessly, "Otherwise how would we recognize people we know?"

"Do you expect this to cause trouble?" asked Ianto.

"No, at least not directly," he said, "yet she's very perceptive. And I shouldn't be here, not at this moment."

"So yeah, trouble," concluded Jack. The Doctor could only sigh. Well, there may indeed be trouble.

They went into the archives. This place was like a huge library, except that instead of books, the towering shelves were filled with various time-related cultural relics. As they passed the door, the soft sound of wind chimes filled the space. A few seconds later, the Time Lord, who looked like a sixty-year-old human woman, stood on a transparent hoverboard and landed from the top.

She looked a little surprised, but only for a moment.

"Theta, I didn't know you are in Arcadia," said the Librarian. "You're famous out there now, aren't you? Doctor?"

"Librarian, been a while." the Doctor swallowed his nervousness. He spent a lot of time in the academy library as a child—she was the Time Lord in charge of the academy collection at that time. He missed her—damn it, he missed everything about Gallifrey. Yet considering the situation, considering what he had done, the sight of her brought no pleasure.

"I can see that you regenerated again. You burn through regeneration faster than anyone else." The other person raised an eyebrow slightly.

"And you haven't changed at all." He forced a smile and quickly changed the subject, "Listen, I have some things that need to be dealt with. Do you mind letting me into the archives?"

"Is it because of him?" The Librarian raised her chin towards Jack.

"Um...yes." A lie. He felt that as he moved towards here, the fracture of time became more and more intense. What they were looking for was indeed deep within the archives. During the Time War, even the archives that originally stored ordinary time travel technology were weaponized—making them dangerous. However, if he could go in and stabilize or even reverse the source, this time rift may be healed.

"I don't think the solution lies in the archives." However, the other Time Lord said matter-of-factly, "Wait a minute, I have an idea that should work, let me confirm."

"Oh, what idea?" the Doctor pretended to be curious and approached the management center, while using the sonic screwdriver to receive the files inside. The Time Lord would not notice the ground zero due to its delicate balance, but other monitoring instruments might still have picked up the signal. The sensors in the archives could help him locate and identify the culprit of all problems.

"Honestly, Theta, I don't know where you found this." The Librarian glanced at Jack casually. The three observed the interaction between the two with vigilance and confusion, but could not understand their language. "He is...a human, right? How can a human become a fixed point in time? The energy in him is so powerful that it is almost unbelievable."

"Well, you know I can always find the most interesting things." He tried his best to keep his tone normal, "So, what are you going to do?"

"This level of energy requires another black hole to offset it." The reason why Librarians were called Librarians was because of her rational, incisive, and logical thinking that would not be shaken by anything. The Doctor actually knew that relieving Jack's condition did require another force of the same level to balance it. However, since the destruction of Gallifrey, there were almost no such existences in the universe. Even if Gallifrey had still existed he could not easily think of anything that matched...

"I'm thinking about the Untempered Schism. The Untempered Schism is a force that can easily eliminate any abnormality, even a fixed point in time. As soon as I can contact the academy..."

The Doctor's heart sank. The Untempered Schism was located in the academy, while the echo only replicated Arcadia and a small area around it. If she tried to contact the academy...

"Wait." He stopped the other person, "Jack is... a friend. I want to try a gentler approach first."

"In any case, it is more likely that the solution will be over there at the academy." The Librarian did not slow down at all, "Theta, in any case, what you need is the power of a schism, not what can be provided here."

"It's just…"

The Librarians were very efficient—way too efficient. He didn't have time to stop it. An error message popped up on the screen.

Gallifrey technology. Even if it's just an echo, it could still detect all abnormalities.

"What? But that's impossible...the academy is not within the time zone...this must be wrong..." The Librarian blinked, her usually stable expression cracking.

"Listen, look at me." The sonic screwdriver had finished receiving the data. The Doctor changed the settings and turned off the console, "Don't worry, it was just a small error. I heard them were adjusting the sky trench when I came in..."

"No, no, no, the sky trench would not be involved in such an error. This is wrong. But if there was a time misalignment, I would have felt it... everyone would..."

"Theta?" Others noticed that the conversation was starting to go downhill. Martha spoke cautiously.

"Librarian, calm down, we are not out of sync." the Doctor lied, "Like you said, we would have felt..."

"But something is not right, something is seriously wrong. You are different, and they are different... something is so wrong..." The problem was, he knew that she always had strict logic. When she noticed any mistake, she would never let it go. Her eyes snapped to him.

"It's you! Your time is misaligned! But there is a time lock outside, how do you interfere with time!? That is strictly prohibited!"

"I didn't," the Doctor pleaded, "Librarian, let me help. I can fix this. Just...calm down."

However, that's a lie. There was no way he could fix this, not ever.

"What did you do, Theta?" The other Time Lord asked sharply, taking a big step back from the distance he could reach, "What did you do to time? How did you..."

Her voice trailed off, then she glanced around and at the other people, her eyes widening.

Oh no, no no no.

"It's not you who are wrong." The Librarian's voice suddenly became very quiet, "It's me who is wrong. The whole Gallifrey is wrong. But how...I..."

"Stop, please," tried the Doctor weakly, yet he knew it was useless. He knew it wouldn't take a few seconds for the Librarian's delicate, unstoppable brain to figure it out.

"I am an echo." She said at the end, in a hollow, dead voice, "This is all an echo caused by a rift in time."

In the distance, a loud, heavy sound, almost like a bell.

"What is that?" asked Ianto alertly and quietly.

Before the Doctor could answer, the whole place suddenly began to shake. At the same time, the Librarian showed a ferocious smile.

"But there's more, isn't it?" Her tone suddenly became crazier than ever before, "Because I felt all the shattered time. I realized the time loop. I've remembered. I remember the Daleks broke through the sky trench."

Another violent jolt.

"I remember them starting to bomb Arcadia. I remember the place collapsing and crushing me in the doorway. I remember I almost escaped, but the damn shelf collapsed and broke my spine."

Loud crack. Dust began to fall from the roof. The Doctor took a step back. This is bad, they should...

The Librarian violently grabbed his collar and pulled him close, looking crazy.

"I regenerated, Doctor. I survived and escaped the collapsing achieves. And then? Everything began to tear apart, wild forces tore our existence from the universe, and we no longer existed." She darkened, protruding eyes were so close that he couldn't breathe. He knew what she was going to say. Oh god, he knew she remembered... remembered the last moment.

"You killed us, Doctor!" she screamed, screaming his name like the worst insult possible. "I saw your TARDIS, the moment you committed your heinous act! You killed us all!"

He finally found the strength to break away from her. An echo of a dead woman, a wraith seeking her revenge. The Doctor stumbled back, feeling heart-wrenching guilt and pain.

"I'm sorry, I didn't...I didn't have a choice..."

Is his world collapsing or is the ground shaking? He couldn't tell. Part of him wanted to scream, cry, hurt himself, but another part of him knew that he didn't even deserve to cry.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."

"Doctor!" A hand grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. Unable to resist, he followed blindly. Towering shelves, rubble, and ceilings began to fell around them. They rush out the door at the last moment, with the archives in ruins behind them.

This time, the Librarian was completely trapped in the collapsed building. She didn't even have a chance to regenerate.

The Doctor fell to his knees, retching involuntarily. Nausea was building in his stomach, in his head. What has he done? His hands are covered in blood.

Explosions occurred around them. Entire cities have been transformed into ruins. The laser fire falling from the sky was ruthlessly destroying everything, and countless Daleks were flying in the dark sky.

"Doctor, I'm sorry, but we really have to go." Martha beside him ordered urgently and somewhat fearfully. He forced his body to obey and wiped the blur from his vision.

"How could they get in so fast? We've only been in for twenty minutes!" Jack cursed in a low voice as he looked at the Daleks flying in the sky. Yet the Doctor heard it.

"That's...because it's not twenty minutes." He forced himself to stand up, restraining the desire to scream, his voice was hoarse, "Librarian...she remembered. The further contradiction of the timeline fast forwarded everything to the last day. It would be worse if she continued to...memory. But she..." He felt his chest tighten, "She was dead, crushed, unable to regenerate."

The words tasted like ashes in his mouth. He couldn't breathe, his throat clogged with pain and guilt.

"Doctor..." Martha put a worried hand on his back, " Doctor, deep breath in and out. You're…"

"There is no need." This sentence came out harsher than he thought. Shit, that's not what he meant to say. But it really didn't matter. No amount of deep breathing could heal the hole in his chest. "The sonic screwdriver has obtained the reading. What we are looking for is indeed in the archives, but not underground—in the building at the end."

" Doctor, are you sure..." Even Jack and Ianto looked worried. He needed them to stop. He didn't deserve any worries. So the Doctor gritted his teeth and interrupted them, "This entrance collapsed, destroyed by the Daleks. There is another entrance at the other end. The problem is, we have to get through the war zone. Come on."

"Doctor, you must..."

"Don't tell me to slow down!" he snapped, sharper than he should have, but he didn't care, "We don't have time for this! I'm fine!"

Martha flinched, looking pained. She knew he was right. They didn't have time to slow down.

"Come on!"

Ignoring them, he ran towards the streets, into the flames, ash, and violence.

Chapter Text

XIII   The Dead

Am I collapsing?

Am I about to die?

Will someone come to end this?

Do I... pray for death?

Artillery fire fell from the sky like rain, and the flying shrapnel and dust smoke blurred the surrounding purgatory, beautifying everything into a story behind the fog. An echo, a film clip. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four... The heartbeat accelerated due to running and became deafening. Is this the end for me? My song is coming to an end...it will knock four times...

And in the end, the existence that will end my life is actually myself. Of course. Once I stop...when I stop...

The sins of my past will take hold of me and suffocate me. Ultimately, I will seek death. Because I won't be able to bear it. Because I'm such a coward...

No, not yet.

The footsteps behind him were almost inaudible amid the gunfire and explosions, but that was the only motivation that kept the Doctor running. He knew they couldn't find their way back without him. Without him, they would all be buried here.

He failed everyone. But he can't give up yet. He couldn't let them down again. They deserved better.

So he ran. If he could correct the source, maybe... maybe...

"Doctor!" Martha grabbed the edge of his clothes from behind and changed his direction of running. He stumbled and fell into an alley, using the wall to support himself at the last moment. He didn't question why. He had also seen, at the moment Martha grabbed him, a whole troop of Daleks approaching on the main road.

"This way," said the Doctor decisively, continuing to run down the alley. The Archives occupied a large area and they had to pass through the entire city on this side. If they could follow the lanes and avoid the main roads, maybe they could avoid the Daleks.

I still have to find a way to take everyone away. There must be something... like a TARDIS. There will be idle TARDIS in the archives... But no, he can't use the echo caused by the crack to break through the crack, let alone the time lock...

I have to find a way to eliminate the source, perhaps enough to stabilize the crack and weaken the time lock, and then use something... The vortex manipulator does not belong to the crack, but the vortex manipulator is not powerful enough, and it is impossible to send everyone out safely under the torrent of the time and space here. Unless there is a stable space that can temporarily isolate the torrent, or a strong connecting coordinate... some kind of external assistance... there must be some way, think, Doctor, think! What can…

There was a loud bang. The Doctor didn't even realize what was happening until he hit the other side hard. He was dizzy and in severe pain all over his body. The impact and the old wounds made his sight turn black, disoriented, didn't know where he was. No, he has to get up. This is very important, something happened... They are running out of time... But he can't move...

"Doctor!" A pair of gentle but firm hands carefully lifted him up, while a familiar and anxious voice, "Doctor! Can you hear me?"

His ears were ringing, his vision was blurred, and he was dizzy. The Doctor blinked hard to get rid of the black spots in his eyes, and saw Martha's worried face, with a blood stain on her cheek.

"You... you're bleeding." He said hoarsely, raising his hand tremblingly to examine the wound on the other person's cheek. Martha caught his wrist halfway.

"It's just a scratch. Your temple is bleeding too, but your pupils look normal. You shouldn't have a concussion."

The Doctor blinked again, feeling his vision and thoughts clearer again. Indeed, he did not suffer a concussion. Or barely. He finally realized what was happening. It must have been the bombing from the Dalek warships in the sky, happening near them. Reality suddenly came back to him.

"Jack? Ianto?" He struggled to get up.

"We're fine. The explosion was closest to you, Doctor." The two emerged from the dust and smoke, supporting each other. Apart from some scratches and bruises, there seemed to be no serious injurer.

"Doctor, are you okay? Can you still walk?"

"I'm fine." He checked himself quickly. No broken bones, no big open wounds. He stood up straight and stared at the street ahead, "The entrance is right ahead, turn right. It's not far, we should..."

"Stop and don't move! Put your hands up!"

The Doctor froze. Gallifreyan, not English.

Others also dared not move. Whether understand it or not, the sound of a gun being loaded was representative enough.

He raised his hands and turned around slowly. The others copied his movements, suppressed gasps of fear as they got a good look at the person behind them.

"You have no weapons," said the Gallifreyan soldier. "You have two humans and one... anomaly with you. Who are you? A spy?"

"No." The Doctor suppressed his pity and disgust. "Listen, I have to go. Maybe there is something in the Archives that can help. I need to get there."

"Go over there?" The soldier stared at him warily and suspiciously, his empty eyes staring straight into his gaze, "Help? Are you a deserter?"

"I'm not a soldier. I'm just trying to help," the Doctor pleads.

"I'd like to believe you, but your companion is too suspicious." He glanced at Jack again, and then back to him, "He... is wrong. You are wrong too. Something's different. Ever since they gave us these cameras, everything is weird."

The soldier shook his head and lowered the gun.

"Listen, there's nowhere to go. The Daleks are coming, try runing that way, my brothers have set up a defence there, that's where the civilians belong."

"I'm not a civilian. I can help. The Archives..."

The soldier suddenly raised his gun again and pointed it straight at him without wavering.

"If you are not a civilian, you should pick up a gun and fight for Arcadia! Unless you are a spy!"

"Arcadia has already fallen!" the Doctor shouted, "There's nothing I can do to change that fact! But there are other things that can be saved, there are other..."

"Arcadia has not fallen yet! You should pick up your gun and fight till the last Time Lord!" the soldier yelled angrily, his voice full of courage and conviction—which only made the Doctor more frightened, "Someone must stop the Daleks, someone must stand! Stand at the front line and sacrifice his life, just like I've done!"

Silence. The sound of cannons in the distance suddenly became hazy, as if even the Daleks had suddenly moved away from this neighbourhood. The Doctor found it difficult to breathe. The dead soldier still stared at him, but his expression was suddenly blank.

"Like... I've..." He breathed, as if he was forcing himself to remember to breathe, "Oh God, I'm dead...they...they..."

The gun fell to the ground.

"This is wrong...the pain...those screams...that was my own voice..."

"Let me help." The Doctor begged, taking a step forward, reaching out his hands tremblingly but not daring to touch, "Let me help... I can..."

What could he do? The Time Lord committed disgusting and despicable crimes at the end of the War and tortured the souls and bodies of those who died. How could he correct all of this?

"This is wrong... wrong..." The dead soldier shook his whole body, his tone sounding like a painful cry, yet no tears flowed from his empty eyes. Then he looked up sharply.

By the time the Doctor realized that the "wrong" he was referring to was no longer himself but them, it was already too late.

The soldier suddenly pounced on him and choked him with merciless force. His screams penetrated the Doctor's body and skull, the smell of death...

No, not the other's scream, but his own—the Doctor realized. Memories of the dead soldier being forced resurrected and being packed into this broken body in the most inhumane way were poured into his mind. He felt the moment of his death. Like the moment before regeneration, but worse. He felt the darkness of death, sticky and cold and hot, and he felt the moment when other Time Lords forced their machines onto his neurons, welding the armour to his death synapses. He felt all the pain, all the fear, all the dark abyss. So he screamed, screamed, and screamed...

Until nothing was left.

◎◎◎

Jack looked at the soldiers in front of him warily and suspiciously. Though it was dressed in the style of a Gallifreyan soldier, inside the helmet was undoubtedly a dead man. The dry skin clung to the skull, and the eye sockets were sunken, emitting a dim green light similar to night vision goggles. His voice was a dry, mechanical sound, and his loose lips only twitched slightly when he spoke, as if it was just an instinct rather than using to drive the microphone.

In any case, the gun in its hand was real enough and deadly enough to make them afraid to act rashly.

Who did this to it? Does the Dalek have the technology to control corpses? No, if it was the Dalek, it would have shot.

Then it's…

The Doctor spoke, sounding like he was negotiating with the other person. The other shook his head, and the voice through the microphone was alert at first, then calm. But the Doctor said something that made him raise his gun again. Jack watched nervously.

Then it started shouting angrily, as if scolding a deserter—Jack didn't know why he had such an idea. Maybe he had seen it in the war, and had seen how a soldier with a sense of honour would angrily accuse other cowards. Looking at the Doctor's reaction, he thought his guess was not far off.

However, everything suddenly stopped again. The dead man's mouth moved, opening as wide as its loose lips could, and the gun fell to the ground.

The Doctor's voice changed, becoming sad, painful, and compassionate. He stepped forward and held out his hands. He wanted to help him, Jack thought, without a doubt. But he doubted how to help a dead man...

The dead man suddenly pounced on him and grabbed the Doctor by the throat. the Doctor screamed in more pain than Jack had ever heard. He struggled and thrashed and twisted while screaming at the top of his lungs in a horrific sound that Jack knew he would hear later in his nightmares. All three of them rush forward, try to stop the dead man's attack. But its power was very strong, and its hands were tightly clasped around the Time Lord's neck like iron hoops—the latter's screams began to weaken and turned into a strangled sound.

Jack first hit the opponent's armour hard, just to feel that he was hitting a concrete wall, and the opponent's position remained fix. The dead man's hands were still around the Doctor's neck, blocking their movements with his body and feet. Martha and Ianto were grabbing the dead man's other hand, trying to pull the fingers away. Wait, if this thing was once a Time Lord and is now dead, maybe...

Jack grabbed the dead man's bare wrist with both hands and pulled back hard. The effect was immediate. It gave a sharp cry of surprise and stepped back. Martha and Ianto caught the fallen Doctor on the other side in time, while Jack was vigilantly staring...

He had never seen anything so fast, never seen any creature so fast. The dead man pounced on him before he could react, strangling him as he had to the Doctor. The force seemed to be just one step away from crushing his windpipe, yet that wasn't the worst part. Jack felt the dead man's touch...like Abaddon sucking his life force, like death itself. He felt that his life force was being torn out of his body, being torn into pieces, and being swallowed up by resentment and anger. It was painful, and there was a primal madness and fear to it. Jack struggled hard, while feeling his strength weakening rapidly. He choked while using both hands to grasp the opponent's wrist—but this time it was no longer effective. Dark, gnawing panic rose in his stomach. Even though he knew rationally that he would not be dead for long, the most primitive fear still tightly twisted his internal organs. From a distance, he noticed that Ianto was hitting the dead man's head hard, yet just like before, the dead man was not shaken at all. He couldn't...he couldn't...

A deafening gunshot. Jack staggered back suddenly, inhaling hard, his vision blurred by tears of physical stimulation. He blinked and saw a precise, merciless bullet hole in the center of the dead man's forehead.

Before he could react, two more gunshots rang out. Bullet holes appeared on both sides of the soldier's breastplate, drilling through the seams and diagonally through both hearts. Jack stared in shock, admiring Ianto's marksmanship with the only sanity left in his heart. He knew he had excellent accuracy, but this level of accuracy...

He turned his head and his heart stopped.

It wasn't Ianto who was holding the gun.

The one with the gun was... oh God, the man holding the gun was...

The Doctor held Jack's revolver firmly with both hands—he had almost forgotten he still had the weapon in his pocket—with his fingertips still on the trigger. The moment Jack looked, he fired again. Jack turned his head suddenly, with such force that he almost snapped his neck—and saw the bullet pass through the dead man's throat, shattering any trachea and neck bones that might still remain. The force of the impact finally knocked the dead man down, dramatically staggered back and collapsed.

Jack then looked back at the Doctor. The Time Lord's expression was blank.

"Doctor...?"

"He was already dead." The Doctor spoke in a blank tone, repeating as if to convince himself, "He was already dead."

"Yes, he was dead." Martha approached cautiously, "Doctor, you can put down the gun now."

His eyes moved slowly and fell on his right hand still holding the gun. His hands weren't even shaking.

"Of course."

But his fingers were still tightly grasping the handle of the gun. He stared at the gun as if he didn't understand what it was.

"Doctor?"

"I... I killed him."

"He was already dead, remember?" Jack said in a cautious tone. He saw Martha reaching out her hands, possibly intending to grab the gun if necessary, so he tried his best to attract the Time Lord's attention and create an opportunity for her, "He was already long gone before this."

"But I killed him," the Doctor emphasized, as if he thought they didn't understand, "I... I would have killed him anyway. I killed him. I killed them all."

Jack finally realized that "kill him" didn't mean the bullet. Then he seemed to hear it, the moment when the Time Lord's tensed nerves finally snapped, the moment when the mind finally collapsed and the heart finally couldn't bear all the sorrow and pain, as if a rotten branch finally couldn't bear the weight.

The Doctor suddenly raised the gun to his temple.

"Doctor!" Jack stretched out his hand, yet didn't dare to grab the gun—and Martha did the same. He saw how the Time Lord's finger was already clasped around the trigger, already on the verge of firing. Just one more point of strength, one more millimeter move…

They didn't dare to speak. The correct words could not be found. It's like a puzzle game. The answer must be a precise word, an exact sentence. The result of any mistake was death—the death of the Doctor, and they had no clue. Jack stared at him, feeling the greatest fear of his life. Nothing—not one death, not one evil, not one threat—was even close to the terror of the Doctor holding a gun to his own head.

The Time Lord's hands finally began to shake. Jack seemed to be able to see the muscles on his fingers tightening one by one as he pulled the trigger back a little, just a little...

"We still have to get out of here." said Martha suddenly. The Doctor's eyes turned to her, as if he didn't understand what she meant. Jack looked at her too, afraid that she would choose the wrong word, the last straw. He saw the pain in her eyes, as if she hated what she was about to do. Then she spoke again.

"You have to get us out of here, Doctor. Only you can do it."

With just these words, Jack knew that Martha had won.

The Doctor might not have the strength to survive for himself, but he could never give up on his friends.

His hands trembled even more, while his fingertips began to relax. The trigger gradually bounced back to its original position, away from the firing point. Jack caught the gun accurately the moment it fell, locked the safety lock in a heartbeat, and threw it into a dusty corner, out of sight.

Then he watched the man he respected, the last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm, crumble into nothingness before them. The Doctor covered his face and let out a heart-rending cry like a dying beast. He knelt down and curled up, pressing his forehead to the ground, screaming and crying uncontrollably. Martha was kneeling beside him in an instant, with one hand on his back and the other around his neck, weeping with him, unable to find the words—because at this moment, no word mattered. Jack, some part deep in his heart, wanted to join Martha. But another part of him he was frozen by fear. It's too personal, too much sadness. He couldn't, he just... couldn't. He felt like he was intruding into a territory he shouldn't have entered.

He found it hard to breathe.

A familiar warmth held his hand. Jack looked up and saw Ianto beside him, holding his hand but looking in the direction of the Time Lord. He was crying, Jack noticed. Ianto was crying—for the Doctor. His tears were quiet, only two sparkling streaks of sadness across his cheeks.

Then Jack realized that he was crying too, tears dripping down his collar. This seemed to give him strength, or finally realize that his heart was bleeding for his friend. He first squeezed Ianto's hand gently as a consolation, then let go and moved forward to where he should be, on the other side of Martha. He carefully put one hand on the Doctor's back, put the other around his shoulder, and hugged him from behind. He wished he and Martha could just build a wall to protect the Doctor from heartbreak and the cruelty of fate. Yet he knew they couldn't. This was all they could offer, this meagre comfort, a match in this polar iceland.

How can you do this to him? Jack questioned the entire universe. How can you put all your weight on a man's shoulders and ask him to hold up all the sky? How can the fate be so cruel?

What can he do to take away a little of the weight? Just a little bit...if they could take it for him...

If…

The mechanical sound suddenly brought Jack back to his senses. But not fast enough. Occupied by sorrow and grief, he paid no attention to his surroundings. When the ruthless mechanical voice finally made him realize where they were, the Dalek was already in front of them.

Jack froze. No, not now, not like this, it shouldn't be...

The laser beam entered his line of sight before he could process, hit the Dalek directly, killing it before it could do any damage. Jack blinked, turned around, and saw Ianto holding the gun that the soldier had dropped. There were still tears on Ianto's face, but his expression was focused and unwavering. He glanced at the gun in his hand and snorted, as if saying "Time Lord technology, not bad."

"Sorry, but we really have to move."

Oh, his Ianto, brilliant, strong, professional Ianto.

"Come on, Doctor." Martha sniffed, and she and Jack pulled the Doctor to his feet. The Time Lord didn't object, only held on to Martha's arm tightly as if it was the last lifeline. Ianto nodded to Jack and stood guard with the gun. Jack led the way and Martha guided the Doctor. They continued to move forward through the ashes and ruins, leaving the dead behind in the void.

Chapter Text

XIV   Ground Zero

As they moved forward, the Doctor seemed to recover. Or rather, gradually settling his mask into place, gradually running away from his own pain. Ianto understood now, why the Doctor couldn't stop, why the Doctor didn't dare look back.

He didn't expect this day to come, that he actually grieved for the other person and regretted his cold words to him.

At some point, the Doctor started leading the way again, with Martha keeping an eye on him while Jack and Ianto keep an eye on the surroundings. As if their bad luck finally ran out, they didn't encounter any Dalek or Time Lord along the way. They came to the back door of the Archives—the guards at the door were already dead, killed by the bombing. The entrance was half-collapsed because of the gunfire, destroying the defences and leaving a barely passable gap in the ruins. They climbed onto the rubble on their hands and knees, crawled through gaps and reached the interior of the building. Besides the flashing orange warning light, there was almost no other light source. The power was out.

The Doctor lighted up his sonic screwdriver, turning it into a flashlight. This wasn't necessary, though, because as they advanced, the light at the end of the corridor grew brighter, just like the light they first stepped through while entering the rift. The surrounding scenery faded, and they seemed to be able to see the endless universe through the walls and roofs again—but there was nothing left in that void, it had been eaten away.

Finally, they came to the center, to the Ground Zero.

It was a chaotic light, with golden tendrils stretching and twisting like an ancient squid, wrapping around the invisible glass in front of them. With every flick of the tendrils, Ianto seemed to hear the sound of glass shattering. That was the sound of Ground Zero continuing to tear apart time and space, he realized.

"It is a TARDIS after all." said the Doctor, his voice hoarse yet emotionless, "But it is not a normal TARDIS. Near the end of the Time War, many idle TARDIS were used as energy sources and even transformed into weapons. It was a failed, sealed TARDIS, waiting to be stabilized, repaired or improved. The Shadow Proclamation found a wrong target—or maybe that was their original target. The vortex of time and space, the origin and essence of time travel."

"Can you stabilize it?" asked Jack, his tone cautious.

"Yes, but I'm not going to." the Doctor replied, and began to type quickly on the keyboard beside him. This space-time energy was undoubtedly trapped in an invisible energy field, and they were standing in the control room of the field. Even so, just by looking at that energy, Ianto could see the raw power in it, intimidating.

"Not going to... what..." Martha cautiously asked for further explanation.

"This is the cause of all the chaos, the cause of the cracks constantly expanding and sucking in things from outside." The Doctor lowered his gaze and stared at the operating screen, not giving them any attention. "The Time Lords' technology contains the vortex, just barely. The explosion was suppressed, otherwise this energy could have done much more than this. However, this is also the reason why the crack continues to expand in a relatively stable state. If I reverse the polarity and release the energy, it can neutralize the crack and close the crack."

"Great," said Jack, with no real joy in his voice. They all knew it couldn't be that simple.

"If you go out along the entrance we came in, go straight along the street, turn right after two blocks, and turn left at the next block, there will be a way to escape from the crack." The Doctor pressed the last few buttons, stopped and looked back at them, "There will be no Daleks along the way."

"How...what?" Martha was confused.

"I would know, because I was there." The Time Lord simply guessed her question and explained flatly, "My past, my echo. I used the TARDIS to destroy all the Daleks in my path. When you find the TARDIS—find me and tell him the truth."

"What?"

"Tell him that you are from the future and are my friends—friends from the future. Then tell him that this is an echo of time and that nothing is real." The Doctor continued, "If he doesn't believe it, tell him to use a sonic screwdriver to resonate.  My screwdriver will receive the message and transmit the equivalent frequency back."

"You're not coming," whispered Martha, the other person ignored her.

"That way I'll know you've arrived in the TARDIS. Have the other me transfer the TARDIS source code into Jack's vortex manipulator, and then use the resonance of the sonic screwdriver to notify me. That way I can detonate the vortex here and reverse the polarity. The TARDIS—even just an echo—will buy you a few extra seconds while the reversed explosion balances the chaotic rift energy. And Jack, the vortex manipulator will back to function. You only have few seconds. Once the reading returns to the correct coordinates—which should be locked to the TARDIS I left in 2032, the time coordinate will be around 21-11-15. Teleport immediately. You will return to the TARDIS, 2032. Don't worry, being in the rift does not affect the timeline of the universe, so you can fly the TARDIS back to 2009, just a few days after we left. You know how to fly it—simply call out the coordinates and activate the 'emergency program'. Remember, you must teleport as soon as the coordinates stable to the meaningful numbers. There will only be a window of few seconds."

He didn't give them a chance to interrupt. After saying that, he immediately turned around and went back to face the console.

"Go, you don't have much time."

"Don't be ridiculous." Jack grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around, "We won't leave you behind!"

"There's nothing you can do," said the Doctor hollowly. "The polarity must be reversed at the moment of detonation, and I can never see my other self—otherwise the Reapers will break through the defences and devour everything. This is my place."

"Then find another way!"

In response, the Time Lord burst into hysterical laughter.

"You know, the prophecy has been pointing to this all along. 'My song is ending, it will knock four times.' The heartbeat of the last Time Lord—my heartbeat. In the end, it was myself who killed me, death by suicide. How poetic."

Ianto blinked. That's new. The Doctor never mentioned this.

"…What do you mean?" Jack asked with a slightly frightened voice.

"Prophecies, omens. Oods, the woman on the bus...every being with ability to glance into the timeline, all said the same. I'm going to die, my end is coming." Damn it, the Doctor actually smiled, a smile that's worse than breaking down, "And here I am, buried with the last echo of Gallifrey, where I belong."

"Find another way!" Jack suddenly snapped, grabbed the Doctor's collar with both hands and shook it vigorously, "There must be another way! Please, don't give up... you promised me!"

The Doctor's expression didn't waver at all. Anyone could see that this was a futile endeavour.

"You promised..." Jack still held the other person's collar, his voice gradually weakened. He lowered his head and buried his face in the other person's chest, "No, please..."

The Doctor put an arm around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Jack. But there's no other way. Even if I wanted to... there's no other way that can resolve this." He whispered, "I'm a terrible friend. You deserve better... both you and Martha. "

He raised his gaze and looked at the other person. She was crying too, and stepped forward to grab the Time Lord's free hand.

"Doctor, there must be another way, there is always another way," she pleaded, "Please."

"This is the only way."

Perhaps so. The problem was, Ianto didn't believe it.

He was there too, thinking that death was the best way out. After Lisa's death, he then immediately went through a lot of messed up stuffs. He once took the pills and was just shy of swallowing the whole jar. Even thought he didn't, didn't really try to commit suicide, for a long time, his mind was stuck in a certain place, convinced that he was broken, and that many things had only the worst solutions.

That kind of belief would turn into blindness. In the end, you would only see certain things and ignore more possibilities. That made you cruel or cowardly.

Ianto was not a Time Lord, not the Doctor. He didn't have that kind of knowledge or ability to find another way out. But he knew the Doctor could—just unwilling, or simply couldn't bare to think of other possibilities.

He stepped forward, tapped Jack on the shoulder, and pulled him and Martha away from the Doctor.

He straightened his suit and stood in front of the last of the Time Lords in the universe.

"Don't you dare."

"Ianto?" Jack asked with a hoarse voice, slightly confused. But he ignored him.

"Don't you dare do this to him. Don't you dare do this to me."

"Ianto, I..."

He had no intention of giving the Doctor a chance to speak.

"Because I know Jack. You've just told us everything we need to know. And I know Jack will do anything, sacrifice anything—to save you." said Ianto, his voice stern. "The moment you turn, the moment you start to manipulate that... 'time vortex', Jack will knock you unconscious from behind, and then ask me to take you away, so that he can stay and do what you were originally going to do."

"Even if this is not the case, even if we really abandon you and let you commit suicide as you said..." He did not give anyone a chance to interrupt, and continued quickly with a slightly louder voice, "You will kill Jack. You will kill him by keeping him alive—forever—and thinking about what he could have done differently to save you. Don't you dare do this to him."

"If you can't find an alternative for yourself, do it for Jack, do it for Martha!" he was now close to roaring. To be honest, he felt a little disgusted by what he was doing to the Time Lord. Yet he knew that sometimes, some people just needed a slap in the face—something he would apologize for later. "Because we are standing in the middle of the most advanced planet in the universe, in the middle of a vault of all the time and space technology, and you, Time Lord, expect me to believe there is no alternative? For Jack's sake, stop feeling sorry for yourself and open your eyes! Because you owe him that much!"

Well, he really, absolutely owed the Doctor an apology. Maybe more than an apology. Although Ianto knew how hurtful those words were, at this moment, what the Doctor needed was more pain to spur him on, because God knew this poor man seemed to live for pain. Maybe a bouquet of flowers and a basket of fruit. If...when they all survived, Ianto would have a difficult, absolutely necessary, irreparable apology to make.

But he knew he had achieved his goal. He could see the Doctor's brain starting to work again—because his lips were trembling. He began to face his pain again... Is this man using pain as fuel? This also meant that he was looking for another way out.

"But... I wasn't lying, there is no other way." said the Doctor painfully, "The polarity can only be reversed at the moment of detonation. And I must not meet another version of me. Reapers will eat up everything here, destroy all echoes...including us."

"You said if they get me, they will gain enough energy to close the rift." said Jack, "What if..."

"No, Jack." the Time Lord interrupted sharply.

"What if we take the past you, the echo of you, to detonate the time vortex?" Ianto asked, "I'm sorry, I know it sounds horrible, but he's an echo, right? We can explain everything to him, you don't have to meet him."

"You mean to ask me to kill myself." The Doctor laughed hysterically.

"Technically..."

"He can't come near here. The time vortex is what pulled him into the rift. Any echo here will be shattered."

"Well, damn it."

"Time Lord technology?" Martha asked, "There should be other advanced technologies here..."

"Any echo, and the same goes for objects." the Doctor emphasized again, tapping the control panel, "This, this is not an echo. It was pulled out of the Time War together with the time vortex, part of the origin messed up by the Shadow Proclamation, rather than the fragments caused by the crack."

"What if we just leave it behind?" asked Jack. "All the vortex manipulator needs is the TARDIS source code, right? We could all leave the rift and maybe... I don't know, find a way to come back and close it? The Reapers definitely need more time to really devour everything."

"The vortex manipulator cannot work here." The Time Lord shook his head. "The time flow here is too chaotic, Jack. Using it is suicide. We must find a way to stabilize the surrounding time flow—that is, to eliminate the time chaos caused by the vortex—only in that moment, a relatively stable moment, and with the help of the TARDIS, can we teleport out."

"Can't you... I don't know, just stabilize this time vortex?"

"That won't be enough. The rift has been torn too far. Unless there's something to offset or erase it..."

the Doctor stopped.

"What?" Jack asked. They saw the Time Lord's expression, with hope.

"Erase it." He suddenly turned around and started operating the console again.

"Can you erase it?" asked Ianto, looking warily at the golden, raw power.

"No." After a brief pause while quickly inputting the settings, the Doctor gave them a crazy smile, "I am allowing the Reapers in. "

"What!?"

"I will set the time vortex as a beacon, a conspicuous target. When the Reapers come in, they will be attracted involuntarily." He explained at a speed of one hundred miles an hour, "Just like swallowing Jack, the energy of them swallowing the vortex is enough for the Reapers to heal the cracks—they are like disinfectants, eliminating bacteria in the wound and helping the wound heal. When they absorb the time vortex and gain energy, they will clean up the abnormality, and the cracks will heal."

"That's why everything keeps getting worse. Time shouldn't tend to be torn forever, time usually repairs itself—through the butterfly effect, through these time creatures... but the Time Lords' technology controls time. The echo of Arcadia prevented the Reapers from entering Ground Zero, preventing the creatures from repairing the wound—which is why the rift continues to grow even after all this time!"

He slammed the last few buttons, and the time vortex shuddered, began to operate in a more stable manner, and finally gathered into a spiral of golden smoke rising upwards, straight through the roof. Behind the half-translucent wall, they saw some bat-shaped black shadows gathering in the distance.

The Doctor turned to them, with that familiar crazy, smart smile.

"We've already taken too long. It's time to run."

So they started running again. Ianto, following at the end, suddenly understood what Jack had said about traveling with the Doctor. Use the ingenuity to solve problems, and a lot of crazy running with adrenaline galloping through the veins.

Fascinating indeed.

Chapter Text

XV    The Doctor

Flames rained down from the sky, and the dust and smoke from the explosion filled the air. Fortunately, as the Doctor said, except for the wreckages of a few Daleks, they did not encounter other living beings along the way. After running a few blocks, they came to an abrupt stop in a small clearing. A man and a soldier stood in front of a wall. The man was holding a gun and firing at a wall.

Firing at a wall? Jack was confused until he looked closely at the burned marks on the wall. It's in English, NO MORE.

"I was very dramatic." The Doctor also looked at the words, waiting for the man to complete. This sentence made the other three turned their gaze to him. "You know, the reason I used English was because it would take too long in Gallifreyan—those circles, you don't want to try it with a gun."

"That's you?" Martha pointed at the man with the gun in disbelief. The Doctor just smiled sadly at her.

The two Time Lords at the other end of the clearing noticed them at this time. The man stared at the group, but did not raise his gun. Well, that was definitely the Doctor—anyone would have raised their gun if they saw an unfamiliar face in the middle of a war zone.

"Theta." The Doctor stepped forward, hands in his pockets, speaking casually, "We need to talk."

The man stared at him with an unreadable expression.

"Theta, haven't heard that name for a long time."

"Yes, for a long time you were known as the Doctor. Until you decided you were no longer the Doctor—the moment you decided to drink the regeneration potion and become a warrior."

The man—the War Doctor—squinted his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am," the Doctor said quietly. "And trust me, you'll rather having this conversation in the TARDIS."

The Doctor of War stared at him for a few more seconds, then nodded, handed the gun back to the soldier next to him, and led them into the TARDIS. The TARDIS was very different from what Jack knew. The circles on the walls glowed with white light, and the decoration of the machinery was very simple. This was a TARDIS of a restrained, disciplined warrior.

"You shouldn't be here. This shouldn't even be possible." The War Doctor quickly adjusted a few settings, opening the TARDIS's defences and facing the Doctor.

"Because this is not real," said the Doctor simply. On the side, Martha hesitated and asked quietly, "Doctor, I thought you said we shouldn't tell anyone that they are..."

"Oh, believe me, I can handle that." the Time Lord snorted, "I've seen worse and been worse."

The last sentence was a bit bitter.

"Been worse... What are you talking about?"

"Open your eyes, Theta, see clearly what we are, see clearly what this Arcadia is." the Doctor replied, "Don't resist the information that lurks deep in your consciousness, accept it."

The other Doctor was silent, looking at them for dozens of seconds, then raised one of his hands to examine, and finally looked around the interior of the TARDIS.

"I am an echo," he finally said.

"Yes."

"...What do you need?" the Echo closed his eyes hard first, as if he was forcing himself to accept it, and then opened his eyes again—those were the eyes of a warrior.

"The source code of the TARDIS." The Doctor looked at Jack and pointed to a connector on the console. "Jack, it will take a minute or two to transport the code to your vortex manipulator. Martha, Ianto, keep that lever and that disc on the side at level five, this will charge the vortex manipulator while transmitting, ensure our later teleport stable."

"Got it." The three moved quickly, leaving the Time Lord and the Echo in place, face to face.

"We are trapped in this rift, caused by an unstable time vortex." the Doctor said to his past self. "I have stabled the vortex and turned it into a signal tower. There are countless Reapers outside, waiting to eliminate the anomaly here—they will have enough energy to close the rift after swallowing the vortex, but the sky trenches of Arcadia prevent them from approaching."

"You need to make contact with me," said the Echo, needing no further explanation. "The paradox between the two of us is enough to let the Reapers in. The TARDIS will slow them down, and you will have enough time to escape—at the moment everything became relatively stable."

"Yes."

The Echo glanced at Jack.

"This will take one or two more minutes."

He was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

"So, I want to know... you survived."

"Yes." The Doctor's voice became very quiet.

"How?"

"I don't know. I think... maybe this is a punishment. You will survive—I survived."

"Tell me... just tell me one thing... was it worth it? Did it work?"

"Yes, it worked." the Doctor's voice became hoarse, "Was it worth it? No, it would never be worth it, but..."

"There is no other way." They both said simultaneously. Jack watched from a distance, suddenly feeling that he had violated an extremely personal and private moment.

"Doctor, no matter how you reject the title..." the Doctor said to his own echo, "so many Time Lords, innocents, children...their blood is on our hands. On my hands. But the Time Lord had gone astray. We tortured our own soldiers and turned them painfully into the dead. We let the entire universe burn. Even if it is over now, in my time, I can still see the unhealed wounds in the entire universe. To this day, if it were to happen again..."

He glanced at Jack. The transfer was complete.

"I... I would still do the same." the Doctor finally said with difficulty, "I don't know what that makes me. Am I still the Doctor? With all the blood on my hands?"

He held out his hands.

"However, I will not deny it. It is your doing, but it was also my doing. You are still the Doctor because there is no other way. Because in the end it is not just a thing you've done, but what I've done. The Doctor is a promise, never be cruel, never be cowardly. I... I've lost the first part, not with this crime that silenced the universe. But I won't pretend that I don't have blood on my hands. You are the Doctor, just as much I'm the Doctor."

The War Doctor looked at him.

"In that case... this is our crimson sin, Doctor."

The Echo took the Time Lord's hands.

Quake. The TARDIS rang a low bell, and there was a crackling sound in the air, as if something invisible was being shattered. White light emanated from where their hands holding.

"They're coming." The Doctor raised his gaze and looked above. The explosions and gunshots outside gradually weakened and were wiped out by something. "Jack, pay attention to the time coordinates and tell me when you see a stable 21-11-15. We only have a few seconds."

"Got it." Jack stared at his vortex manipulator while listening to the Doctor's instructions.

"Everyone else, hold on to Jack, as tight as possible. Martha, when I join you, you'll also need to hold on to me. The moment of teleportation, the telepathic shock may knock me out again. Setting the coordinates of the TARDIS and activate Emergency Protocol No. 9, and we will teleport back to Earth, 2009."

"Understood." Martha grabbed Jack nervously, leaving one free hand. Ianto therefore grabbed Jack with one hand and Martha with the other as a guarantee.

"Doctor." The Time Lord finally turned to his past self and said nothing, just his name. To which the Echo responded in the same way, "Doctor."

Cracks began to appear in the top of the TARDIS, claws poking through the gaps.

"Stabled!" Jack shouted as the numbers jumped to the correct value. The Doctor let go of his past self, ran towards them and grabbed Martha tightly, "Go!"

Jack pressed the teleport button hard, and a burst of blue light flooded them. The last thing he saw was the Reapers lunging toward them, but the Echo jumped between, buying them one last second.

Then everything disappeared.

◎◎◎

The sun was shining brightly in Cardiff, as if the nightmares of the past few days were just an illusion. However, Martha wasn't in much of a mood to enjoy the sunny day outside. She sat in the damp base of Torchwood, waiting for the Doctor to wake up. The TARDIS was parked on the dock outside not far from the base.

"Hey." Gwen walked up to her, handed her a cup of hot honey tea and some sweet cookies. "I heard you haven't eaten much in the past few days."

"True." Martha gratefully accepted the food and drink.

"I'm just glad you're all okay." Gwen sat down next to her and looked at the unconscious Time Lord, "Is he okay?"

She felt her throat tighten. She couldn't lie.

"No. He's not well."

"Oh." Gwen widen her eyes in surprise and stood up, "What medical equipment do you need, I can help..."

"No, no, no." Martha realized the misunderstanding she had caused and quickly reassured her, "It's not that. His coma was just...a telepathic shock."

Damn it, tens of millions of connections ripped out of his head again. Even if those were just wrong links, echoes... Martha imagined that still hurt.

"He'll wake up in a few hours," she told Gwen. "He might need to take a while to recover, but he'll be fine...I think."

"Oh." Gwen blinked and sat down again, seeming to understand what Martha meant. "…that bad?"

She knew she was referring to what they had been through, the psychological damage.

"It's worse than anything you can imagine." She tightened the fingers on her warm cup, "Maybe I shouldn't have left him."

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't your fault, mate." Gwen put a hand on her wrist, "I'm sorry to hear that he's not well."

Before Martha could reply, Jack's voice interrupted them. He and Ianto came down the stairs above.

"To hell with UNIT. I haven't forgiven them for abandoning the Doctor... not today."

"Agreed," said Ianto, "Let them continue shouting at the empty lines or banging on the TARDIS door."

Martha gave an involuntary but hollow chuckle. She knew that UNIT had their reasons for their decision, yet after everything she had been through, she wouldn't want to report her superiors in a while.

"How is he?" Jack came to her side.

"Physically? Slight dehydration and malnutrition. I just injected him with a pack of nutritional supplements, so those are not big problems at the moment."

Then all three of them fell silent. They all knew that physical problems were not the worst part.

"We probably still have to worry about the Shadow Proclamation, don't we?" After a while, Ianto changed the subject.

"Maybe." replied Jack, "But they probably won't immediately notice that we're back to the original year."

"So," Gwen took Martha's cup, "all three of you should go take a shower and get some sleep. Everything else can wait until tomorrow."

"Gwen..."

"Rhys helped me in the base these few days. We took turns taking care of the rift and other things—so don't worry, I have plenty of rest." She interrupted Jack, "And you? You all look like you've been through hell."

"Honestly, that's not far from the truth," Jack murmured.

"So go. Go get some rest. Don't force me to kick you out by force."

"Yes, ma'am." He replied jokingly, though there was not much laughter in his tone, only tiredness.

Then the three filed into the lounge at the back of the base. Martha knew her nights would be filled with nightmares.

She had walked among the Time War.

◎◎◎

"Thanks."

Ianto was actually a little surprised that the Doctor didn't run away with the TARDIS in a blink of an eye and disappear without a trace. In that case, he probably wouldn't blame him. But for some reason—perhaps Jack's pleas and Martha's threats—the Time Lord stayed in Torchwood.

The man mentioned was taking a sip of the tea that Ianto gave him—said it could help repair the neurons.

"You know, the classification in your storage room is a mess." said the Doctor thoughtfully, "Many things of different natures and different civilizations have been mistakenly classified together."

Ianto almost choked.

"When did you go to the storage room?" He never left their sight—at least not for more than three minutes. "And the storage room is locked."

"Please, as if that would stop me."

"…fair."

"While you're making tea."

"Ah."

Ianto poured himself a cup of tea and sat down opposite the Doctor.

Gwen went back to rest while Martha and Jack took care of the work they had left behind and made sure everything was in order. From what Ianto knew, Martha was writing a strongly worded letter to her general.

Well, there's no better time.

"Doctor, I have to tell you something."

"Huh?" The other person looked up from the top of the cup.

"I'm sorry. I..."

"No need."

"No, let me finish." Ianto insisted. "Just this once, let me finish what I have to say."

The Doctor hesitated, then nodded briefly. This gave him a little confidence to use his own time to formulate the right words.

"You...you are still the Doctor. Even after all that," he began, "I heard you say that title is a promise, never be cruel, never be cowardly."

"Never be cruel, never be cowardly. Never give up, never give in." said the Doctor softly.

"You saved countless lives." Ianto emphasized, "On that day you had no choice... I won't compare my own experience with yours, but in Torchwood, we did go through that calculation more than once. I know it's wrong, putting lives on the scales will never be right."

"You save people. That will never change. Damn, you have saved humankind countless times." he said, "You don't have to forgive yourself, Doctor, but you also can't deny the good things you've done. You saved us, countless people, and countless civilizations in the universe. "

"I've also ruined a lot of people's lives, Ianto," the Doctor replied quietly, "especially my friends'."

"No, you didn't." Ianto shook his head, "You made Jack a better person and gave him a purpose. This life may be difficult, but it also allowed him to truly live—he told me that this is a much better life than being a time agent. You also gave Martha a chance to see the universe and find what she really wanted to do, Doctor."

Before the other person could refute, Ianto mustered up the courage to admit what he should have admitted long ago.

"Lisa was long dead, before you could do anything. It was the ignorance of Torchwood one, the Cybermen, that killed her. If it weren't for you, everyone would have died that day. You saved us, you saved me."

"Everyone is broken, Doctor." Ianto said softly, "Everyone. I can't change your past, I can't tell you that it wasn't a mess. But occasionally, just once in a while... Doctor, think about the people you saved, think about the good things you have done. Then tell yourself that you may have done some wrong things, but you still always have achievements and kindness that no one can match. Just put all the sadness in a corner and, from time to time, let it all out with a friend."

He chuckled sadly.

"Jack will always be there, won't he? You'll always be stuck with him. I know he'd love to be there when you need him. And maybe not forever, but Martha will also be there..." He took the courage and say, "I'll be there too."

"Just... don't go through this alone. It's too much for anyone. And always remember, you are still the Doctor. No matter what you have done in the past, you will always be the Doctor to those you saved, Doctor."

The Doctor looked at him with an unreadable expression. After dozens of seconds, he stood up and stretched out a hand. Ianto also stood up and accepted the gesture.

"You are a remarkable man, Ianto Jones." the Time Lord said seriously, "Jack is lucky to have you. I am lucky to know you."

He let go, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I will... try. What you said. I may not be able to do it, but I will try to remember it."

Ianto nodded, and added.

"And... thank you for everything, Doctor."

The Doctor twitched his lips slightly and nodded slightly without denying it. It seemed like he was actually trying, trying to accept that he had saved some people and done some good things.

"Are you... leaving?" The Time Lord had an expression as he's about to leave.

"Without saying goodbye? Martha would kill me." the Doctor chuckled, considered for a moment, "Although, there's indeed a place I need to go to. Want to accompany me, Ianto Jones? We'll be back in ten minutes, I'm sure it'll be great."

"Hmm...ok."

Not really a choice. Ianto wouldn't let the Doctor out of sight.

The Doctor showed that slightly crazy, excited smile, and then ran out of the base with him. There were a few UNIT soldiers outside, and was stunned when they saw them.

"Doctor, wait..."

"Laters!" the Time Lord ignored them and pulled Ianto into the TARDIS before they could react. After a few quick buttons, the time machine swayed and took them into the universe and time. A few seconds later, Ianto felt them land.

"Come on." The Doctor put one hand in his pocket and opened the door with a sly smile. Ianto couldn't help but look forward to it—imagining where they would be. However, when they stepped out together, he almost couldn't hold back the curse words under his breath.

Judoons' laser guns were already pointed at them.

"You can put down your guns. Not like I'm going to make the same mistake twice." The Doctor snorted, "I temporarily extended the TARDIS's defence field, and your little funny weapons can't penetrate it."

The Judoons ignored him.

"Doctor." The woman they saw during the trial walked over quickly, her expression somewhere between anger and disbelief, "How did you..."

"You know me, always have some ways." the Time Lord mocked in a frivolous tone, "It seems that your plan to erase the four of us is not going well."

"You…"

"Ok, shut up and listen." The Doctor suddenly turned threatening, "What you did there was undoubtedly a crime, and I have all the evidence, so you will stand there and listen. I'll tell you all your crimes and you will eventually accept any terms I have, do you understand?"

"That's..." the woman tried to fight back, but the Doctor put a hand in front of his lips and glared at her. For some reason, she suddenly lost her voice.

"That's much better." the Time Lord said with satisfaction, and then began, "You were stupid enough to challenge the time lock of the Time War—everyone knows how many regulations that violates, you don't need a Time Lord to see that. The consequence of that was the Daleks. The reason why the reality bomb happened was because a Dalek flew through the time lock—that should originally be impossible."

He paced the small area around the TARDIS.

"I was wondering at the time, how could a single Dalek do such a thing? Break through the time lock? Now I understand. That's because you knocked a crack in the time lock and allowed it to accidentally fall through the crack." Behind him, Ianto eyes widened in surprise. "Now, even if the reality bomb had been stopped—by my friends, by Jack... you're welcome, you didn't help at all—countless civilizations in the universe have still experienced those things, still suffered heavy losses, and still remember everything. Imagine if they knew who's the one behind all these and what stupid things you had done?"

"You have no evidence."

"Don't I?" the Doctor grinned, "Like you said, I'm a Time Lord. I'm not stupid, I have my technology. I recorded everything."

The woman opened her mouth, as if she wanted to refute, but finally closed her mouth suddenly and gritted her teeth.

"What do you want?"

"It's very simple." The Doctor's expression darkened, and all smiles disappeared instantly, "Never, never hunt down my friends again, and never find an excuse to declare war on Earth. Jack Harkness, erase all records related to him, erase all our records, and never touch a single one of them, ever. Then, I'll keep those ugly little secrets for you—and you won't try any of those idiotic tricks again, because tell you what, I will know."

"How do we know you'll keep your word?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You won't. The decision is in my hands. So you'd better not give me any reason to expose your clever deeds, right?" After saying that, he didn't give them any chance to refute, but turned to Ianto. "Come on, we should head back."

"With pleasure."

"Doctor!" the woman yelled angrily from behind as they opened the door of the TARDIS, "You can't just leave like this!"

"Oh?" Still holding the doorknob with one hand, the Doctor turned around, "Can't I? Like I said, you have no choice. Think about it."

After saying that, he entered the TARDIS without looking back and set the coordinates back to Cardiff.

"Okay, the Shadow Proclamation has been dealt with." He said easily. "Such a shameful thing, and with my instructions, the record will be deleted from the file—this is probably why in the record we never left Ground Zero. They will not come to harass the Earth again."

"Doctor," Ianto hesitated for a moment, sorting out what he had just seen, "...you don't really have any evidence, do you?"

The Doctor looked at him, as if offended.

"Of course I have no evidence, why would I?"

"So you were bluffing."

"Well..."

Ianto stared at him, that crazy, impossible Time Lord, with an innocent look on his face.

Then, seconds later, he started laughing.

"Oh my God! You're right, this is great!"

The Doctor quickly joined in his laughter. They were still laughing maniacally until the TARDIS landed.

"Doctor, where did you...Ianto?" Jack ran in from the door and stopped mid-question, looking at the two laughing friends suspiciously. "…Did something happen that I should know?"

"Nothing, just..." Ianto couldn't answer a complete sentence without falling into a new round of laughter.

Chapter Text

XVI   After the Storm

"You know, it's a pity that I can't really just dismiss the Shadow Proclamation."

A few days later, the Doctor said thoughtfully. They were sitting by the base, under the bright sunshine.

"They are still there in the future timeline, and the universe does need an enforcer with a certain degree of credibility. If it's any consolation, as far as I know, the Shadow Proclamation undergoes a major reshuffle at the top in the next few years. I was never sure why, but now I know."

"They won't try to capture Jack again?" asked Martha.

"I don't think so. If they ever try, call me."

"Good enough for me." Jack commented.

"Alright, it's time for me to be on my way."

"You're leaving," said Jack, not even a question.

"Yes. There are still places to go and things to see." The Doctor smiled, "You know me."

"Doctor, don't travel alone," Martha pleaded. "Find a friend, find someone to stay with you."

"I... might." the Time Lord's smile disappeared and his voice became quieter, "I still need a little time. But at some point, after a while, maybe I will find someone again."

"I must ask, Doctor," said Jack cautiously, "the prophecy you heard—that your song is is ending. Do you think..."

"Will it still happen?" the Doctor paused, "Yes, maybe it still will."

Before they could offer any comment, he spoke again.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not scared, Jack." This was a confession that they did not expect. "I'm scared, scared of what's waiting for me at the end, scared that I won't be able to bear it. And yet..."

He paused.

"A wise man told me that when I am in need, I will have someone to turn to for help. And when I am desperate, maybe I should think about what I have and the good things I have done instead of holding on to my own guilt. Maybe this is the right thing to do, maybe this will help me make the right decision."

Ianto's eyes widened in surprise.

The Doctor stood up.

"Martha, Jack, you are the best friends I could ask for. I will try my best to be the friend you deserve."

"You are also the best we could ask for." Martha stood up and stepped forward to give the Doctor a hug. "Take care of yourself. I'll always be here when you need me."

"I know."

The Doctor then turned to Jack. When he reached out, Jack hesitated.

"Doctor, if..."

"Don't worry." the Time Lord reassured and offered a hug. To Jack's relief, there was no sign of flinching. He took this to mean that the he had fully recovered his strength.

"Please use the vortex manipulator with caution." the Doctor said after the hug, staring at the device on his wrist. "You are still at a fixed point in time and space—sorry I can't do anything about that. Time travel works more complicated with you, so try to avoid it if you can."

"You...are not going to disable it?" Jack blinked.

"I shouldn't, and I won't." the Time Lord shook his head, "You are a responsible person. What I did in the past... was disrespectful. I am..."

"Don't say you're sorry, Doctor," he cut him off, "We've talked about this. All is in the past, all is forgiven."

The Doctor paused, then nodded. Finally, he turned to Ianto.

"Ianto Jones, thank you."

"No, thank you, Doctor." Ianto shook his hand. "For everything."

"Take care, you lots. All of you." When saying this, the Time Lord's eyes briefly met Gwen's and he nodded as a goodbye.

"Take care, Doctor," said both Martha and Jack.

"See you next time then." the Doctor smiled. The next moment, his trench coat drew an arc on the dock of Cardiff and disappeared behind the blue police phone box.

They stood there, holding hands, watching as the TARDIS whirred and disappeared.

Chapter Text

XVII          The Farewell

When his fate finally arrived, the Doctor, surprisingly, felt relieved.

It had not been a pleasant few days. To be honest, he was pretty sure he was going to die. He considered, really, considered seeking for help. Yet the moment the Master transformed everyone into himself, this option was gone anyway.

All omens and coincidences led to this moment. He lost Gallifrey again and stood before his execution. That damn glass cabinet.

A being destroying his own planet three times must be some sort of record.

The Doctor thought he would be more resentful and unwilling. There was still so much he could do, he had sacrificed so much, and what he got in the end was a glass coffin. This...this is not fair.

However, however…

If his life, this broken and bloody life, could save one more person in the end of its song...

He was glad it was Wilfred.

The Doctor walked to the other glass door without hesitation. His crystal coffin.

"Doctor, please, don't..."

He smiled. A sad, painful, but sincere smile.

"Wilf... I have lived this life for too long. I have lost my way. This is an ending that has been written a long time ago, and I... in the end, if I can save one more person, I am glad it's you."

The kind, sweet Wilfred looked at him with sad eyes and begged him to give him up. And the Doctor...couldn't.

"I... I will survive." Half a lie. With 500,000 rads, even a Time Lord might not be able to take it, and might even be unable to regenerate. But he couldn't tell him. He couldn't say it. "I will change, some part of me will die, yet in the end... I will survive. Everything will be okay."

"Doctor, but...but you said..."

"Yeah, it still feels like dying." That, he wouldn't lie, "However, eventually, that's change. We all have to change in the end. And this, if the last bit of this life can..." Exchange. The Doctor stopped the word. He didn't want to describe Wilf that way.

So he took a deep breath and found the most appropriate words.

"Wilfred, it's my honor." the Doctor looked at him and said sincerely, then glanced at the warning light above, "Better be quickly."

Before he could feel the fear, he forced himself inside and pressed the red button. Five hundred thousand rads instantly poured into the glass cabin, burning him from the inside out. He could feel his body struggling pointlessly, trying to metabolize the radiation, but the excessive energy still burned every vessel and ignited every nerve.

He didn't want to scream, not in front of Wilfred, but he couldn't help it. The two hearts contracted, stung, and failed. All cells burned and died. The internal organs stopped working one by one. Invisible sharp blades cut and dismembered him. He could only gather the last bit of strength to cling to the glass door and saw Wilf's worried and frightened eyes—while unscathed. That was enough, Wilf was safe and alive. That's all he needed.

Then he allowed the radiation to overwhelm him, his limbs twitching and paralyzing, and he curled up in his own glass coffin, waiting for the burning hell to stop, waiting for every cell to scream and die. Everything was blackening, in agony, in suffocating heat, in spasms. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't make any more sounds, and the only thing he could hear was his own four-beat heartbeat that became deafening, then missed beats, and then faded out. Until there was silence, until nothingness swallowed him, until darkness descended...

The golden light lit up, catching the last beat of his heartbeat. However, the radiation had not receded yet and was still burning through every vessel. The regeneration energy began to fight the radiation, turning his body into a battlefield. Although the four-beat heartbeat began to become stronger and more stable, at the same time it was painfully overwhelming. Even the regeneration energy might need quite a while to overcome such a large amount of radiation. This would be a painful and long regeneration process.

Then there's breathing. The Doctor drew in a sharp breath, taking in oxygen for the first time in two minutes. The stabbing pain in his lungs made him whimper.

"Doctor?" a voice asked anxiously. Everything was blurry, far and near, as if it were underwater. However, that voice, it was not Wilf, still equally familiar...

"Doctor? Doctor!"

The Doctor took his second breath, which was just as painful as the first, but his brain was getting used to it. He reached out blindly and found himself grabbing something soft, like fabric.

"Calm down. We'll take you to the TARDIS immediately." Another somewhat familiar voice.

No, no, Wilf, he had to make sure...

"Wilf?" he mumbled, his vocal cords unwilling to cooperate, his voice broken in pain. He tried again, "Wilfred?"

"I'm here, Doctor. I'm here."

A reassuring, rough old hand held one of his. The regeneration energy began to spread to the limbs, allowing the Doctor to finally find strength. He blinked, and the situation in front of him gradually became clearer. The person supporting him in a half-kneeling position was Ianto, with a worried look on his face. Wilfred kneeled aside, his eyes still red from tears. Jack was behind, looking at him anxiously.

"...Jack, Ianto." He said hoarsely, trying to pull himself up again. Yet his legs were still napping, and the lingering sting in his nerves turned the effort into a debilitated spasm.

"Don't move, Doctor." There was undeniable worry in Ianto's voice.

"I... I'm fine."

"You're not fucking fine!" said Jack angrily, pacing, "Doctor, you just had to walk in that thing the moment I arrived! You had to decide to go to your death seconds before I got here!"

After shouting, he suddenly lost his temper and covered his face.

"Just ten seconds, Doctor, I was just ten seconds too late, and I had to watch you..."

He choked up and couldn't finish the sentence.

With his feet finally working again, the Doctor, with Ianto's help, stood up and faced his old friend.

"Jack, it's alright."

"It's not." Jack put down his hands, his eyes slightly red.

"It's fine." He emphasized and reassured again, "I... I have made too many mistakes in this life, and..."

Admit it was not easy.

"And suffer a lot of loss. I guess I've been pacing around at the edge for a long time. It's time to move on."

The Doctor stepped forward and embraced his friend. Jack was still burning hot, but honestly, it really didn't make much of a difference with half a million rads of radiation in the body.

Jack hugged him like a last lifeline. The Doctor let him until he finally let go.

"Will I... see you again?"

"Of course." the Doctor nodded, "Although, there are still some places I want to go and people I want to see—to say goodbye with this face. Sorry, Jack, Ianto, I have to trouble you to deal with the aftermath. I really do not have much time."

He looked around roughly.

"Leave it to us." Ianto nodded professionally, "Go."

"Wilf..." the Doctor turned to the old soldier and smiled at him, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. About Donna... I'm sorry I can't do more. Take care of her."

"Always." Wilfred choked and hugged him, "Take care of yourself, Doctor."

"Always." He replied with the same word, then walked towards the door, turning back before leaving, "Jack...please take Wilf home. I will see you again, at some point in your future."

Jack didn't say anything, he just gave him a proper salute silently. The Doctor smiled sadly at that. That's classic Jack.

Then he walked outside into the TARDIS to say goodbye to his friends.

◎◎◎

For the next few months, Jack waited with a mixture of fear and anticipation. The Doctor—his Doctor, the Doctor who had not yet changed into his next face, promised him that they would meet one last time. Jack was afraid of seeing the Doctor's injured body in pain and still barely delaying regeneration, but he also hoped that he could see him to confirm that he would be fine.

He heard that the Doctor saved Martha and Mickey from a Sontaran, made sure Luke missed the car that nearly hit him, and met Sarah Jane for the last time. Jack could only console himself that the Time Lord seemed to have not left or changed yet. He could only wait, wait for his own farewell.

However, that moment never arrived.

"No, no no no no, Ianto. Stay with me, please..."

"I... I love you," Ianto said it with his last breath, struggling to breathe. Jack could only watch the light in his eyes disappeared little by little. Yet he couldn't say it, he couldn't... his heart couldn't bear it.

"Don't, please."

"Jack..."

This is not happening. Everyone in his life left him. But not Ianto, not him. God, please, not him.

"Ianto..."

"Maybe you should tell him you love him too." said a familiar voice. Jack looked up suddenly and saw the Doctor standing over him.

"Doctor?"

"Don't worry, I have released the antivirus in this building, it still takes time to work." The Doctor squatted down next to Ianto—the latter was almost unconscious. He smiled with slight sadness, "Hi, Ianto. Sorry, you'll be sick for a few days, but you'll be fine."

"You..." Ianto's expression changed from complete sadness to one that was almost helpless, still with some undoubtedly pain, "You bastard, you just have to wait until the most dramatic moment..."

He breathed hard. In response, the Time Lord chuckled helplessly.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Take care... Doctor," Ianto said it with the last of his strength and gave Jack a reassuring glance before finally falling unconscious.

"Doctor..." Jack suddenly felt his mouth went dry. The sudden loss and recover made his heart tightened to the point of pain, and he also knew that this was the goodbye he got, the last time he saw his Doctor.

"Jack. A moment, there's one more thing."

As he spoke, he stood up straight and walked forward to the box containing 456. 456's tentacles slapped the half-transparent wall hard, like a threat.

"You do not..."

"Shut up," the Doctor snapped, "I won't give you any chance, not after what you have done to this planet and to the children."

As he spoke, he typed on the computer nearby and connected the sonic screwdriver to the instrument.

"Your crime and evidence will be sent to the Shadow Proclamation along with you, and based on what you have done, there'll be only one outcome..."

"Death penalty."

After that, he pressed the transmit button without giving the other party any chance to speak. 456 shouted angrily in a burst of yellow fire, and disappeared in the next moment.

"This cavity was originally designed for 456's teleportation." The Doctor raised his gaze and looked at the direction where the fire disappeared. "I used the energy of the TARDIS to amplify the teleportation, it will teleport directly into the prison. I still get number on the Proclamation, there is no doubt they will take the evidence I gave them seriously."

"Doctor..." Jack gently put down the unconscious but still breathing Ianto, unable to find the words. He walked forward.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor staggered as he walked toward him, almost falling. Jack rushed forward and supported the other person's body. The Time Lord frowned and clutched his chest with one hand, yet still smiled forcefully when he raised his head.

"I'm fine, Jack."

"No, you're not. The radiation is still causing pain in your body," said Jack hoarsely. This time, no matter how much he feared change, no matter how much he didn't want his Doctor to leave, he knew...he had to let go. "Doctor, just...let it go. It's time to move on."

"I know." the Time Lord took a deep breath, as if to suppress his tremors, "but there is still one person I want to see, just one..."

The name didn't need to be spoken, Jack saw the shape on the Doctor's lips.

"Rose," he said softly. The Doctor nodded.

"Let me go with you," Jack pleaded. "You shouldn't be alone when you regenerate."

The Time Lord shook his head slightly.

"No, Jack, I'm sorry. This is a path I need to walk alone. Besides, Ianto still needs you."

Jack knew he was right. So he could only let the Doctor break away from his hands and walked toward the TARDIS alone. When he grasped the doorknob, he paused and looked back.

"Farewell, Jack."

"Goodbye... Doctor." Jack held back tears and forced a smile. In response, the Doctor responded with the same sad smile.

He stood there, watching the TARDIS faded away until the last echo quieted out. Then Jack knelt down beside Ianto and mourned his friend silently and tearlessly.

Chapter Text

XVIII         The New Beginning

"Gwen, where is the file for this alien artifact?" Jack strode across the base and shouted toward the second floor, "I think this is a small toy, some kind of alien children's toy. Maybe it's harmless but I need confirmation."

"Actually, it's a medical device, used to support the teeth." said an unfamiliar voice, "The Katekans' teeth are too long and can easily trigger nerve reflexes during surgery, so they always give patients the tooth braces to avoid biting their tongues."

Jack almost pulled out his gun. The stranger, dressed in a ridiculous outfit, sat in Jack's seat with his feet up on the desk. But those words quickly registered in his head.

"...Doctor?"

"Jack. Did I mention that your defenses need some upgrades? And that your storage room is a mess?"

Jack dropped the toy—or tooth brace, whatever—and jumped up to give the Doctor a big hug. The Time Lord didn't object, just patted him on the back like dealing with a child.

"This regeneration... well, it seems my chin has a competitor."

"Oh, stop it." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"And the bow tie, really?"

"What's wrong with bow ties? Bow ties are cool."

Jack grinned.

"I've missed you, Doctor."

The Doctor just held out a finger playfully, suggesting him to stop there. This Doctor... Jack was relieved to feel that he was more relaxed and at ease, still with that intelligence in his eyes that couldn't be ignored, and the childishness of yearning for novelty.

"Ianto, Gwen? We have a guest." Jack shouted again toward the second floor. The two poked their heads out from the railing above.

"Who is that?" asked Gwen, her voice sounding alarming and confused.

"I think..." Ianto hesitated, "Doctor, is that you?"

"The one and only." The Doctor gave him a joking salute and looked around, "You redecorated the base?"

"The old base was...well, destroyed." Jack said lightly. The Doctor pouted.

"I don't like it."

"Alas, the new one is a bit cruder, but still practical." Ianto walked down from the second floor, followed by Gwen, "How have you been, Doctor?"

"You know, same old, running around...met this girl, Amy, she's traveling with me now."

"Oh, where is she? Why don't you introduce her to us?"

The Doctor glared at him.

"Unfortunately, she also has a tendency to flirt with everyone. I would never introduce her to you, Jack. I don't think I can handle a meeting between you two."

"Come on, Doctor..."

"Good choice." Ianto interrupted Jack's protest. Gwen nodded in agreement.

"Since this is a new base, give me a tour would you?" said the Doctor, spreading him arms. "Perhaps I can help you rearrange the storage room?"

"Please don't," said Ianto, and Gwen nodded, "Ianto has OCPD, Doctor, you'll drive him crazy."

"Fine, fine. I'll try not to do anything."

"Doctor, you want a tour in the base?" asked Jack, hopefully. Because it meant…

"Will you come to visit again in the future?"

The Doctor glanced at him, seemingly surprised.

"Sure, why not? Just stop by once in a while. You know, social stuff?"

That was all he needed to hear. Jack showed the brightest smile of his life.