Shadow of a wing (Doctor Who)

Epilogue

The Reaper was incredibly tired. Of travelling aimlessly, of chasing a ghost and never landing anywhere in time. Years of his own timeline had passed, he wasn't even completely sure how many, and he couldn't get any closer. The coordinates always were too distorted.

It was no use to continue like that. He had to find a way to fine tune the signal from the psychic link. Somehow. As if he hadn't thought about it over and over again without any result.

With a sigh he closed his eyes and leaned against the humming console. His thoughts wandered back. Back to his most recent years on Gallifrey, no, further even.

There had been a young woman. A human and a companion of the Doctor, his favourite enemy. She had tried to free the Doctor when he had managed to capture him once. But somehow, instead, she had ended up travelling with the Reaper for a while. They had been... close? Something like that. He really wasn't too eager to think about it.

But back then there also had been the drums in his head. And there was Rassilon, most accursed of all Time Lords, who had been responsible for this torment. The Reaper had gotten his revenge. But in exchange he had been stuck on Gallifrey after the Doctor had sealed it away.

Of course he had been able to flee. He always got away somehow. And he had spent some quality years just being... him. Although sowing destruction and madness over the universe didn't feel as satisfying anymore, without the drums to drive him. And alone.

But one day... he had met this human woman again. Somehow she had simply materialized inside his TARDIS. But something...

...Something was wrong, he realized as he stepped closer to the figure. It was her, no doubt. But it was as if he couldn't see her clearly. And then he remembered the glitch, and that the Doctor's TARDIS had frozen her time stream to prevent her atoms from dissolving.

She heard or maybe just sensed his presence and turned around, no, flickered like a candle flame, like a loose collection of particles, waving in all directions. She had short, blond hair, looked a bit boyish and her bright green eyes fixated on the Reaper.

"I know you," she whispered.

"I'd be damn pissed, if you'd simply forgotten me," he mocked and tilted his head. "Freezing you didn't quite do the trick, eh?"

"Freezing... mhm..." She reached out a hand as if to touch his chest, but her atoms spread around him, like water flowing around a rock, and she took it back. "Who are you?" the woman asked and looked up to him. "I don't remember."

Those words sent a nasty sting through his hearts. Sure, he hadn't been bothered to look for her after Gallifrey... but that...

"You... don't remember? And still you materialized inside my TARDIS?"

Puzzled she looked around, as if she would realize only now where she was.

"How old are you now?" the Reaper asked with a raised eyebrow. "Must have taken quite a while to get that bad."

"I..." She hesitated and thought for a while. "I don't know. There are memories. So many of them." Slowly her hands reached for her head, but she couldn't even touch herself anymore, and for a moment she stared at her fingers. "A thousand years. More. Probably. Maybe a lot more. I don't know." Then she looked back up and asked again, "Who are you? It feels like you were important."

Again it stung. Why? After all these years... He stepped closer and tried to cup her face, but his hands went right through her and he retreated, swallowing a mean lump in his throat. "I don't know anymore," he admitted finally. "Without the drums... I'm... no one."