Story [Doctor Who] Killing Him Softly 1/1

TITLE: Killing Him Softly
AUTHOR: Juliet3:16
FANDOM: Doctor Who
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: VIGNETTE, MISSING SCENE
SPOILERS: The Last of the Time Lords (Season Three finale).
SUMMARY: Jack tries to comfort a broken Time Lord. Challenge response to the following quote at the Quote_Inspired LJ community:

"You are not bound to his fate."
"The same blood flows in my veins. The same weakness"

My deadline was December 24th.
DISCLAIMER: The BBC owns Doctor Who (but can we please keep David Tennnant?) I own nothing but this missing scene idea.
DISTRIBUTION: FF.NET, WWOMB. Anywhere else, please ask

Killing Him Softly



Jack Harkness looked at the solitary figure by the funeral pyre with one thought in mind.



It's killing him.



Jack sees nothing of the Time Lord who defeated his arch enemy and turned back a terrible year, erasing untold suffering for humanity just hours ago. Instead, he sees a broken man who lost his last tangible link to a home he would never see again. It was crushing Jack to see his friend like this.



Jack approached the Doctor with some caution. Given the emotion shown as the Master died, Jack wasn't sure how the last surviving Time Lord would react to his presence when it had been clear he had wanted to do this by himself.



"Doc...? Jack trailed off upon the Time Lord whirling to face him, the expression on the other man hard and cold.



"I said, I wanted to be alone Jack!" The Doctor ground out. He turned back to the fire with an almost wistful expression.



"He wouldn't regenerate," The Doctor said his tone much softer, almost a whisper. "I can't help but wonder. Was it that it really for spite, or could he truly just not regenerate. He used to steal bodies to prolong his life but... ?The Doctor shook his head, either unable, or unwilling to elaborate. Jack chose not to force the Time Lord on that issue.



"He probably thought," Jack said, "that death was preferable to being trapped on the TARDIS for the remainder of it."



"Would it have been?" The Doctor countered. "Or would he have seen it as an opportunity? To make me as insane as he was?"



Before Jack could answer the Doctor pressed on.



"There's a myth among my people Jack, a prophecy you might call it. He's called the Valeyard. He's supposed to be the most evil out of all of us. The personification of all of the darker natures of a Time Lord's previous incarnations. He's prophesied to occur between a Time Lord's 12th and 13th incarnations.



"I am supposedly prophesied to be the Valeyard.?



Jack shook his head. "I don't believe that. Not after everything I've seen you do. Everything that others have seen you do."



"I destroyed my world Jack. I annihilated my people and took decisions out of other people's hands and made their choices for them. I destroyed Harriet Jones career and set this whole forgotten year in motion. I wake up from every sleep wondering if these last few years have brought me all that much close to being the monster my people feared."



"I wonder if I'm not more like him." The Doctor said, indicating the burning pyre. "Or ten times worst."



"I don't believe that." Jack repeated. "You are not bound to his fate. Or anybody else's."



"The same blood flows through my veins Jack. The same weakness. I look in the mirror, and wonder: Am I already the monster people think I am?"



Jack decided words would not soothe the Time Lord's soul on this evening. Instead he put his arm around the other man's weary shoulders and led him away from the dying pyre.

 

Wow, Juliet! That was very powerful!

I love fics having to do with the year that never was, it's one of my favorite topics thought all my fandoms!

"Would it have been?" The Doctor countered. "Or would he have seen it as an opportunity? To make me as insane as he was?"
Loved this... I think that is probably the truth. I know it hurt the Doctor that he died, but I don't think the Master would have ever changed.

The ending was so moving, just about made me cry! Poor Doctor!

Wonderful job!