The Beginning of the End (Doctor Who)

Chap. 18

The Doctor, you, and Bill are in the Doctors TARDIS now, Doctor 2's TARDIS set to track the other (the navigation being broken).

"Are you all right?" He asks, approaching the Captain sitting on the steps.

"Yes, fine, absolutely." He nods, "Just thinking. I told the wife I'd be home for Christmas. Funny how things work out." He grimly chuckles.

The sound of the TARDIS materialising fills the room. The sight that awaits you outside isn't much different than the previous. A battlefield, though not quite as colorful. Craters and trenches line as far as the horizon, dead bodies scattered everywhere. The two Doctors give the soldier a hand back into his crater. 

"Thank you." He nods, "Thank you all. You've been most gracious in the unfortunate circumstances."

"I regret, Captain, that the universe generally fails to be a fairy tale." Doctor 2 bids.

"When time resumes, you will not remember this. A perception filter will also render us invisible." The Glass Woman, previously Bill, explains.

"Yes." He nods, though his eyes show he didn't understand a word. "One imagines some of those words were attached to actual meanings of some sort. One thing you could possibly do for me, if you were very kind?"

"Oh, anything." The Doctor nods, "Name it."

"My family. Perhaps you could look in on them, from time to time?"

"We should be delighted. What's the name?" Doctor 2 agrees.

"Lethbridge-Steward. Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart."

The Doctor seems surprised, whereas you're just annoyed with the overly extravagant title. Men.

"I shall make it my business."

"You can trust him on that." The Doctor confirms. From the look on his face you assume that name is attached to some sort of nostalgia.

"Thank you so much." He gratefully says. "I believe I am now ready."

A wave passes over, but you don't feel a thing. In that single moment, life resumes again.

You can't quite pick up the voices of the two soldiers in the trench, both of them speaking in hushed tones. You look to the German soldier who's supposed to kill him. He's extremely dirty, as are... many. A red bandage tightly wrapped on his hand and the way he clutches his side indicates an injury.

Suddenly, singing picks up. German and English. Confused, the Captain stands up. Not dead. You frown. You whip around to the men behind you, one looking quite prideful.

"What the hell did you do?" You glare to your Doctor.

"If I've got my timing right, and clearly I have, then we should be right at the beginning. I adjusted the time frame, only to a couple of hours. Any other day it wouldn't make any difference, but this is Christmas 1914, and a human miracle is about to happen. The Christmas Armistice." Soldiers crawl out of the trenches, white fabric attached to sticks.

You vaguely remember learning about that in school. Everyone became quick pals before killing one another the next day.

"Wounded man here!" The Captain shouts, blowing his whistle, "Wounded man here! Wounded man!"

"It never happened again, any war, anywhere. But for one day, one Christmas, a very long time ago, everyone just put down their weapons, and started to sing. Everybody just stopped. Everyone was just kind. You see, Y/n, that's what I want you to learn, to become. Just kind."

"You really know how to suck the fun out of everything." You sigh, turning back around. Kindness doesn't fit you. You could be the kindest person in the world, and there'll still be someone who spits on your shoes. No, it's better to be firm, that way no one dares to second guess you.