The Beginning of the End (Doctor Who)

Chap. 62

There are lots of things that may be contained inside. Knowing the clown, you'd expect something colorful and good.

Not a dead black and grey forest.

"Is this what you expected, Doctor?" Swarm inquires, standing quite close to her.

"An illogical house, a construction that makes no sense." Missy tsks, "Think of the children."

"All those memories you lost, all the people you've been. It's all in there, contained within that house." He gestures.

She shakes her head, but can't take her eyes off it.

"I see the curiosity is killing you. Go on, take a look. Meet the selves you've lost."

"No." She denies, voice wavering.

"Are you afraid of how it will break you?" The Master presses, a hand on her shoulder, "How it will tear your mind apart?"

"I could rend them all to dust. But don't worry, I'll take it slow." Swarm decides, outstretching his hand.

He does, tearing the house apart. The sparks are the only colour in this world. As he tears the house apart, he tears the Doctor apart. She cries out, but he puts the rickety house back together again.

You could watch this a long time.

"Ha! I could do this forever." Swarm laughs.

He does, breaking the house again. All the memories disappear, as does the Doctor. She disappears to ash, at least, a third of her does. The long part of this process is when he rebuilds the house, rebuilding her.

It's a game that keeps you alert, waiting for it to end- yet enjoying every second of it.

Until she passes out, therefore taking you all out of the forest.

"You don't get to die yet, blondie." You say, approaching her slumped against a wall. "That's for us to decide."

"You keep following me and torturing my friends. What is it you want?" She weakly asks, not even bothering to stand up. You don't bother crouching to her level, it's not your style.

"Entertainment, and if destroying this Universe is what brings it, then all the better."

"Why not save it? You end this Universe, then what? You move on to the next, and the next, only bringing pain and suffering wherever you go." You nod, maybe you'll have fun with the next, maybe you won't destroy it. It's all a game of improvisation. 

"There's always going to be evil out there to combat, people to save. You like being seen as a god, why not act as one?"

"You mean take your job?" You scoff, "Why bother caring so much? Not everyone is grateful, and we all end up dead in the end. Why not speed up that process?"

"Life must win." She insists, "Otherwise... why are we here? What's the point in all of this?"

"An error. One we're going to correct. Death is a constant, so we eliminate all other variables, to put it nicely." You smile.

"There's a balance to the Universe. It exists that way for a reason." She insists.

"No," you disagree, "The Universe has never been close to balanced."

With that, you walk away. 

The Universe is unfair and imbalanced. You've lived with it for so long, but finally saying those words out loud... it hits you, hard. 

Death is a constant, you've always known that. Again, saying it out loud hits you in a different way. All of this does. It's as if you've known how to solve the puzzle, but you've never actually seen the final picture.