In And Through The Body [ Doctor Who | sequel to A Man With Sins ]

TEN

When I hit the floor, all the air was knocked out of my lungs. The fall lasted longer than I had expected. It felt like I was falling forever. My eyes struggled to open as I laid on the floor. I could feel tiny shards of glass from the dome above us digging into the side of my face, and my entire body ached. I wasn't sure how I had survived such a fall, but I did. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I instantly looked for the Doctor. He was standing tall, covered in cuts and bruises, but he was alive. He was alive.  Looking past him, my eyes fell on the five Timelords that had forced themselves through time and space, here, to Earth. 

They stood cloaked in red, but two of the five, were on their knees, covering their eyes like Weeping Angels do. The Doctor finally turned to face me, rushing to my side. His knees hit the glass-covered floor loudly as he pulled me up into his lap as I gasped for fresh air. "Cara, we didn't make it in time to stop him. We didn't make it in time at all." Looking up at him, I forced myself to my knees, looking over at the Timelords for a second time. I couldn't believe it. Though a part of me was glad to see more of my own kind, this wasn't how I wanted to see them again. This was wrong. "It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."

In the front of the rest of the Timelords, stood someone I knew well. Rassilon. He was speaking to the Master, who wasn't standing too far from where the Doctor and I were. "He's not saving you!" I called out to the Master, who turned and looked at me as I finally stood to my feet, with the Doctor by my side. "Don't you get it?" Gaining my balance took a little longer than I expected, but I approached Rassilon and his small army of Timelords with anger.  

Looking at me with rage in his eyes, the Master shook his head before returning his attention to Rassilon. "Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mister President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit." Rassilon's face twisted with disgust, "Think how much better you're going to look as me." Suddenly, Rassilon raised his right hand that was inside of a gauntlet, and all of a sudden everyone in the room with us that had adapted the Master's face, was starting to change back into who they'd been before. Rassilon was a powerful man, he wasn't one to anger, for the Timewar had driven him mad. "No! No, no! Stop that!" The Master pleaded, but his words were like whispers in the wind, unheard, and uncared for. 

My stomach was twisting itself into knots as the Doctor and I watched the interaction Rassilon and the Master were having. The Master thought he'd finally found the help he'd been waiting for. The help that would heal the broken thing inside of him. He'd never been more wrong. "On your knees, mankind!" Rassilon commanded, and all the humans in the room dropped straight to the floor, obeying his command. 

"No, that's fine, really. Because I brought you your salvation, I saved you! Don't you forget that!" There was anger in the Master's words as he retaliated against Rassilon's actions that had undone all of his work.  

Rassilon gave a sly smile as he raised both of his arms up into the air. "The approach begins." It was a statement, a powerful one as the world shook. It was like an earthquake had hit nearby. The walls shook, the windows rattled. This was more than just these few Timelords trying to escape a war, they were planning to bring the whole of Gallifrey out of the Timewar, and into the present. 

Shaking his head, the Master looked between Rassilon, and us. "What is it? What's approaching?" How could this man be so blind to what was really happening?

Slipping my hand into the Doctor, I cleared my throat. "Don't you ever pay attention? Something is returning, not someone." My voice nearly broke as I spoke, "They're not just trying to bring back our species. It's Gallifrey, right here, right now." Looking out one of the large windows in the room that hadn't shattered yet, up in the sky, you could see Gallifrey approaching, getting closer and closer to the Earth by the second. Suddenly, the humans who had previously been on their knees in front of Rassilon, began running for their lives at the sight of the incoming planet.