As the World Shatters

Prologue: As the World Shatters...

The TARDIS bucked and shook as it was buffeted by the violent chaos outside, the very vortex of time and space ripping itself apart and reforming around it. The whole universe was changed, everything in it altered in just the slightest way, but inside it was different, separate from the howling onslaught beyond. Within the TARDIS there was silence, nothing but her muted rhythmic hum could be herd.

The floor felt cold and hard beneath Peri as she woke and she gasped, surprised she could properly breathe again. Her head felt groggy and confused and for a moment she lay disorientated, unsure where she was. It was the TARDIS, she realised. The Doctor had got her out of there just like he promised, the last thing she had heard before darkness overtook her. For the first time, with a cold stab of fear, she realised what she was wearing and pulled the mask quickly off her face; the only mask. She looked around wildly seeing a familiar multicoloured form slumped, unmoving on the ground, face down beside the console and for a moment she froze, afraid to get any closer. Then he moved slightly, letting out a low groan, and she sighed, releasing a breath she had not realized she was holding.

 ''Doctor?'' she asked, crawling unsteadily over to him. ''Doctor, ca... can you hear me?''

She turned him over as gently as she could, given his large frame, so his head rested against her and the movement roused him from his sleep. 

His face filled with a look of relief when he saw Peri staring down at him and he smiled wearily. ''Peri, you're all right''.

Peri smiled back. ''I... I... I think so. I'm a little woozy but other than that I feel fine.''

''Good, I'm glad. And that will pass, in time'' he assured her. ''Necron gas is only fatal in large doses.''

Peri felt that icy stab of fear sneak back into her heart as she realized for the first time just how cold the Doctor felt, like ice beneath her touch. ''But you... you mean for humans, right?'' she stammered, hoping so strongly it was true, despite what she knew deep down. ''N... not for time lords like you.'' 

The sadness and regret in his eyes told her all she needed to know. ''I'm sorry Peri, I am. I never meant to leave you like this but there was no other way.''

Tears welled in Peri's eyes as she shook her head, ''No''.

''You'll be all right, I promise'' he said, doing his best to reassure her. '' I'm just glad I got to say goodbye. I wasn't sure I'd have the chance''. 

Peri shook her head, her voice desperate. '' But c... come on Doctor, please don't give up. There... there must be something that can help, some antidote. Something?''

The pain in her eyes was reflected back in the Doctors at the answer he had to give. ''Yes perhaps, worlds away from here, but it hardly matters. With the TARDIS the way it is even I couldn't get us there in time.'' 

Peri's heart twisted; she could hardly believe what was happening. It couldn't end now, not like this. '' No doctor you... you don't mean that, you can't'' she begged, unable to hold back the tears any longer. ''Please, I... I need you.''

He smiled up at her, a little sadly. ''No, you don't. You're a bright, intelligent young girl, you'll survive.'' 

''But...'' she objected before the Doctor cut her off, trying his best to comfort her. 

''You don't need me peri. You'll be happy enough, given time.''

''But Doctor ho... how can you say that after everything, after what you just did?'' she asked brokenly ''you... you just saved my life.''

 ''Well, I'm not saying I'm without my heroic side'' he replied with a week chuckle and though Peri tried to return his smile, all it did was pull at her heart even more. 

 ''But really'' he promised her, his voice serious again ''You'll be ok without me''. 

Silence stretched between them for a moment, Peri gently stroking the side of his hair as she struggled to get her tears under control. ''Wi.... Will you regenerate?'' she asked finally, remembering what had happened the last time. 

''No, I don't think so, not this time'' the Doctor replied, for once quietly resigned ''the Master chose very carefully. But don't worry'' he added when he saw the desperation in Peri's face ''before it sealed I had just enough time to give the spacetime distortion a little nudge, you won't be alone.'' The Doctor flashed her a brief, sad smile '' Perhaps now I can give you a second chance at the life you deserve, the life you always wanted.''

Peri frowned, confused and upset. ''Wha.... what do you mean?'' she stammered uncertainly.

''You'll see'' the Doctor mumbled quietly, his eyes beginning to drift shut. 

Panic flooded Peri and she shook him awake again. ''Doctor? No Please, please stay with me.'' 

His eyes fluttered open once again but this time they held a clouded look of disorientation. ''Peri?'' he asked when he saw her gazing down at him. 

Peri took his hand, squeezing it gently as she forced a smile through the tears. ''Yes Doctor, i... it's me. I'm here'' she assured him. 

He returned the gesture with a week squeeze of his own before he spoke. ''Good'' he breathed, his voice barely more than a whisper. ''Do try not to forget me entirely though hmm? Remember me now and then?'

''Oh Doctor, I.... I could never forget you'' she promised, knowing just how true it was.

 It was at that moment that the weak grip on Peri's hand finally let go and the Doctor's eyes drifted Shut for the last time. 

''Doctor?'' Peri asked quietly as a pang of grief and fear swept over her. ''Doctor!'' she begged again, her voice louder this time and thick with tears, but still there was no reply. 

Shaking with shock and grief, fresh tears streamed down Peri's face as she wept, soaking into the rainbow coat beneath her as she bent over his still form. She had felt alone before once, before ever meeting the Doctor, but never like this. Mentally and physically exhausted after everything that had happened, trapped in the TARDIS alone while the universe ripped itself apart outside, there was nothing she could do but curl up sobbing beside him until she finally fell into an uneasy, restless sleep.