~~Final Bow~~

'Darkness closing in,
I don't want the light to end,
My wings are made of my sin,
Leaving scars behind to mend.

I plummet towards my final act,
Either good or bad it will be now,
Only one thing is a fact:
I fear my final bow.'


Jerking awake, Sonya gasped softly for air, her eyes wide open and both hearts thundering away in her chest. The faint images of her dream already beginning to fade as she sat up and buried her face in her hands. "Forget it, Sonya. Just forget it, alright?" She muttered, trying to pull herself together for another long day of... Whatever it was that happened. Usually at the end, she'd lock away the memories so she wouldn't be haunted at night, but either way, they bled through and ruined her dreams anyway. With a long sigh, she slid her legs out of bed and stood up, her eyes drifting around the small cell she sat in from the moment she was pulled through the crack. "Another long day..."

Walking around, she stopped by the small pitcher of water and poured herself a glass, grimacing at the dusty taste, she swallowed it then leaned against the small table it sat on, her eyes shut tight against the sudden throb of pain in her head. "No, go away." She whispered, words cracking slightly from the strain she put into them as she tightened her grip on the table, nails digging into the wood and leaving deep gouges behind. "Not now, not right now." Shaking her head from side to side, she forced back the pushing pain and let out a low groan, the strength giving out in her legs and making her slump to the floor in a small ball. It wouldn't last too much longer, the walls she put up every day were crumbling faster with each passing minute. It wouldn't be long... Then she'd disappear forever.

The figure stood over the controls in front of him, watching the Time Lady move around her cell. The weeks that passed since her coming her, all she had done was sit on her bed and stare at the wall across from her. As he suspected, the Nightmare Child wasn't far below the surface, and if too much strain was put on her mind, it would come out and continue on it's mission. Standing up, he retreated from the room he stood in and walked down the hallway to the Time Lady's room to open the door. The woman looked up from where she crouched on the floor, confusion written plainly on her face as she struggled to make sense of her reality vs the one in her head.

Reaching out a hand, he beckoned to her, making her rise to her feet and follow him out of the room. Nearly an hour later, the figure was standing in the surveillance room once more, his eyes trained on another screen beside Sonya's revealing the Tenth Doctor in a cell similar to hers. Feeling a cruel smile curl his lips upwards, he reached over and pressed another button beside his screen, opening the second door in the Time Lord's cell to lead him into a second room connected to it.

The Doctor glanced around, his head swirling around, his eyes frantically trying to regain focus as he wobbled out of the cell, "Sonya?" he whispered, squinting his eyes at the cell to the left of him and the figure inside. Peering to his right, The Doctor focused in on an incoming light, light from an opening door and a new section ,of whatever this was, to be explored. Walking over to it, The Doctor shielded his eyes with his right arm as he entered. Once his eyes were used to the incoming light, he lowered his arm and glanced around the almost entirely white room. The door hissed shut behind him, "What is this place?" he asked himself as he walked towards the middle before a beeping sound yanked his attention from behind him.

Three feet in front of him was a white panel with two buttons directly below a glass window, overlooking a cell withholding Sonya and, on the opposite side, the TARDIS. One button was red, the other dark blue. The Doctor glanced up from the buttons then back down to them, Choose the one you will lose hissed a voice out of the thin air, The Doctor shook his head, taking two steps back, "No..." he hissed, "No..i can't".

Sonya blinked her eyes and looked around her glass cell, seemingly at ease with her predicament before turning her attention back to the Doctor and flashed him a small smile. "About time you joined the party... I was wondering if you'd even walk through the door." She called out, forced cheer making her voice strain slightly as she tucked her hands into the pockets of her pants and leaned against the wall beside her. "So... Turns out it was you all this time huh? No wonder, always knew sticking around someone for too long would end up in a situation like this..." Trailing off, she gazed over his shoulder in thought, her odd eyes narrowing slightly as she ran over everything she wanted to say, she planned to say when she saw him but only coming up with a blank.

With a low sigh, Sonya turned back to him and smiled again, a shoulder lifting up in a slight shrug. "I don't know what else to say Time Boy, this is pretty much your show now. Wouldn't blame you, but you know..." A eerie laugh echoed around them, making the Time Lady's head jerk up and look around the room warily. "Ah, friendship, priceless. Something many would prize beyond any possession of theirs... If they weren't tested that is." The voice paused, letting his words sink in before continuing. "The button you push will save the one in the cell in front of it. Choose the TARDIS, and Sonya will leave..." Trailing off, the voice left them alone again making Sonya turn and look at the Doctor, a small spark of fear in her eyes. "You know... I'm not sure what to think of this... I mean... If you take the TARDIS, again, wouldn't blame you, but I'll be stuck in this universe again, the one my other half came from you know... Its nothing to sniff at."

The Doctor lowered his head, glancing over at each button, his hand suddenly shooting out to Sonya's button before stopping just inches above it. "Aahhh!!" He exclaimed in a sudden rage, yanking his hand back and angrily pacing back and forth before stopping in front of Sonya's cell, "This universe...wherever we are is unstable. Its only holding because of the dark matter emitted by Abaddon at the Tower of London. Once i press this button...either of these buttons. There is a matter of minutes before this reality crumbles into the void. Before turning into dark matter itself". The Valeyard smiling menacingly from above, looking down at his game with great intrigue and happiness, Choose her...and you will stay with the people you nearly killed. I can move you back to Gallifrey just in time before this reality collapses he proclaimed, Choose your time machine and you may go...but she cannot. She will be dust before your eyes Doctor. This is your choice..your punishment. Friend...or TARDIS.

The Doctor peered up to Sonya, looking into her eyes before turning slowly away and walking over to the central panel, his eyes scrutinizing the controls carefully. "Dead locked sealed" He mumbled sorrowfully, "After all this...fighting the Time Lords back. Stopping the universe from being destroyed countless times from this crack. This is always my reward..first Wilf and my life...now this....and it's not fair!!!!" he exclaimed, forcefully hitting the panel as hard as he could. "Put me in her place" He suddenly proclaimed, spinning around and extending out his hands to his side, "Put me in her place! Take me! She could do so much more than me! Take me!! Do it!".

Sonya shook her head softly, hearing the desperation in her friend's voice as he asked to be put in her place. "You know that wouldn't solve anything, Time Boy, then I'd be in the same place you are right now. I think it's easier to just sit here waiting for you to come up with your decision than it is to actually make it." Reaching forward, she pressed a hand against the glass in front of her with a wry smile on her face. "And I couldn't do much more than you have anyway. I'm useless most of the time, always fussing about that ship..." Turning her head, she eyed the blue box only a few feet away from her in a separate cell with a loving expression flickering across her face then turning back to the Time Lord in front of her.

"That ship holds hope, wishes and children's dreams for a better world in it, Doctor. The sound it makes brings hope to everyone who hears it, even you when you think all is lost." A soft smile graced her features as Sonya stepped forward and pressed her forehead against the glass, her eyes shut as she thought over everything they'd done together. "It means everything to Earth, to any that hear it, it means to be given another chance, another moment of time that they can make things better." Opening her one blue eye, she flashed the Doctor a smile, forced by her attempt to calm him with the matter he had to make a choice. "You can't take that from them."

"And i can't take you from me!" The Doctor spat, rushing up to Sonya's cell in a quick turn, his eyes beginning to fill with tears as he slowly lowered his head, "For hundreds of years i thought i was the last one...even after i knew that i had saved them. Placed my own people in an alternate universe to keep them alive i was the last. I was the only one for a while..then you came along. You saved me in more ways then one when i found you...in some ways you are more than a friend to me". Holding back his overwhelming emotions, The Doctor exhaled then continued, "My granddaughter...i was there when she died..." he mumbled, placing his hand slowly on the glass cell wall, "When she left i promised her i would come back...and..i did. I watched over her for as long as i could..i saw her grow old...her children running across the endless orange snow covered grass. And i watched her breathe her last breaths...to afraid to see her in person...afraid she wouldn't recognize me with all my different daft old faces" he managed a slight chuckle, "And for the longest time when i traveled with you..i saw her in you...and it gave me hope. Hope that...within time..i will be able to see her again...tell her that i came back".

Lowering his hand, The Doctor's face went coldly blank as he stared out onto Sonya then back over to the TARDIS as he glanced over his shoulder, "I'm tired of running...running from the things i know will come" he started again as he looked back to Sonya, "It's time i face them...besides! There's plenty of me out there right? What's the difference if this old face is trapped on Gallifrey...blimey..imagine my house, i haven't cleaned it in hundreds of years...".

Sonya shook her head frantically, tears already stinging her eyes as he spoke. "No no no! You can't abandon everyone there just because of me!" She snapped, irritation showing through, covering her sadness like an armor as she pressed her hand against the glass, trying to get through to him. "Doctor, you have to promise me you'll go back to them! You have to go back, save them like you always do, those idiot humans you and I both love. They need all the help they can get and your the only one to do it, damn won't you ever listen to reason you thick-headed moron?"

Letting out a shaky breath, Sonya forced herself to calm down, reason trying to make it's way back into her thoughts as she simply stood there, staring at the one person in the universe that she could call friend. The only one who really knew her, better than her own brother even. "You can't make this choice solely on your emotion, you have to make it on what's right, not just for you, but for everyone else that depends on you." Blinking the tears from her mismatched eyes, she stared out of the glass at the Time Lord, trying to make him see reason as she spoke. "You can't just say 'she lives because I don't want her death on my hands.' because I'm already dead, Doctor. I'm down to my last life..." Trailing off, she looked away from him, cursing herself mentally for even saying it. One thing she never wanted him to know and it was out in the open already. "I have maybe a hundred years left, no point in running around and getting myself into danger anymore."

The Doctor lowered his head, his mind connecting to his future incarnation and the struggle he went through, knowing he was the last incarnation until more was given to him. It was amazing to have that ability, to look into his past and future incarnations memories so easily, but it was also a punishment. Seeing how his friends turned out, how his, in the end, did. But Sonya's future never was as clear, she was a much of a mystery as he was to humans, and now here it seemed to be set in stone. "W-what if i can rewrite the system?! I can rip out the wires..d-do it all by hand! I can save the both of you!" The Doctor proclaimed, his mind frantically trying to search for a way to save his long time friend, "A hundred years is a lot better than five minutes...i can help you...i know i can..i..i have to".

His mind filled with rage as the options began to dwindle down to one; an option that angered The Doctor to no end. "I have to! I can...i..i can do anything!!!" The Doctor exclaimed, banging both his hands on the glass cell protecting his TARDIS, lowering his head as he breathed heavily. The TARDIS called out to him, a familiar calming hum echoing through the glass and reaching his ears. The sound of the time rotor, the sound of the engine groaning and humming with majestic greatness. The Doctor reluctantly released a soft smile before turning back to Sonya and leaning up against the glass case behind him, "I can't..." he mumbled, "I refuse" he said out loud, his body, mind and face freezing in place, reluctant to make a move.

Sonya scowled and looked around the glass prison she stood in, silently debating on how exactly she could either get out or get the daft idiot to listen to her for once in his life. "A hundred years is more than I could bear, Doctor." She finally said quietly, her eyes flashing a stormy pain as she looked back over at him, teeth caught on her lower lip before speaking again. "A hundred years of meeting more people, making friends, then watching them die because of some stupid adventure I had, some stupid plan I made that ended up being less than perfect. A hundred years to be with you, then suddenly leave you alone again one day."

Her voice caught at the end, the image of him alone in his TARDIS after her funeral pyre, standing in front of the console with that lost look he always had after a particularly hard loss happened. She couldn't give him those years, she knew him too well that those years would hurt more than the few minutes they had here. He had time to accept it, not enough, but at least he would know when, at least he would know how to distract himself when he got home. Closing her eyes, she let out a low, pained breath at the thoughts as they circled around her mind. She knew for a fact if he choose her instead of the TARDIS, she'd refuse to leave. She'd stay here with him if only to know he wouldn't be alone.

"Doctor, you can't abandon everything in your universe, Gallifrey may be your home planet, but it isn't your home. It hasn't been mine for thousands of years and the same goes for you. Earth, that universe, that is your home, that's where your needed. Not here... Never here." Sonya finally said, eyes locking onto his with sadness marking the corners of her own, turning her lips downward in a helpless frown. "You'd go mad, and if you decided to stay just to save me, I'd end up staying here myself, and you know it full well."

"I'm already mad" The Doctor broke out of his silence, kicking off of the glass and walking over to the button for Sonya, his hand hitting it but not pushing it down all the way. Something was stopping him, his mind connecting to his future selves, all the possibilities that could happen if he chose to stay with Sonya. Images of London in fire, people running through the streets screaming, the water fountain in the center of downtown in crumbles and beside it lay a woman. Her hair a dirty red, her eyes staring up into the sky, her last breath exiting her mouth. That woman was Sonya...

The Doctor froze, slowly lifting up his hand from the button and taking two steps back, his head aimed for the ground, "So this is my punishment" he hissed, "Not to live forever until i get killed...not to travel the stars for eternity...but to watch my friends die before my eyes...to kill them by pressing a button". Glaring, The Doctor looked up to the ceiling, "I will find you...Valeyard listen to me!" he roared, a tear rolling down his cheek, "Until my two hearts stop beating i will not stop searching for you...i will bring the Time Lords back alright..i will bring them back just so that i can show you the meaning of hurt and pain. Abaddon's desire to kill me dwarfs in comparison this i promise you". On the opposite side, The Valeyard's smile lowered to a frown, releasing a sigh before roaring back down, Time to choose Doctor!.

The buttons glowed to life for The Doctor, the glass cells burning with a red hue around the edges of both. The Doctor peered between the two, glancing at each one before walking over to the button controlling the TARDIS glass cell. Slowly, The Doctor placed his hand lightly on the button, cuffing it before looking over to Sonya. "I'm sorry..." The Doctor muttered, "I'm so sorry...you were fantastic...beyond amazing an-". Before The Doctor could finish, the button sank down and the glass cell around the TARDIS glowed green then lowered. The Doctor's eyes shot wide open, "Sonya!!!" he cried, extending out his arm and bolting over to her cell, his eyes locking on to hers; The Valeyard's frown morphed into a maniacal grin, his finger lifting up from a button.

Sonya blinked her eyes and looked around, sudden panic blossiming in her chest as she realized her fate. "Ah... So that's how he plays this game. Dangerous indeed." She whispered, clarity brightening her features before a frown darkened them once more. "Doctor, promise me something, promise me you'll take care of her." She said quickly, her eyes moving around the room before locking back onto his face. "Not the TARDIS, I know you'll take care of her, I know you do, I just... I wanted to annoy you about something at least. Something to show how I cared." She laughed weakly, her words tripping over themselves in order to get out and make her wish known properly.

Pressing both of her hands against the glass, she locked both eyes with his, trying to keep herself calm as she gagued his reaction. "Take care of my daughter. Please, she may hate you, quite possibly me, but take care of her for Rassilon's sake. Don't you ever let anything hurt her, or so help me, I'll come back from whatever hell there is for Time Lords and haunt your skinny arse until you end up giving in." Looking up at the ceiling of her cell, she let out a small breath of sadness. "So much left unseen, Doctor. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me most of the time... Just know, You were the best, the only one I could have trusted. Thank you for that." With a final smile, Sonya straightened up in the center of the cell, two tears tracing paths down both sides of her face as she looked out at the man standing there. "Thank you."

Just as she uttered those two words, the floor opened up beneath her, sending her form dropping down into a fusion core, incinerating it within seconds leaving nothing but ash and a final plea for her only friend to fulfill for her.

Within the keep,
Of a castle old,
A woman will weep,
fine tears of gold.

Her final plea,
Left for one,
Only he could see,
It was time to run.

Bid him well,
As he travels alone,
At the toll of the bell,
Her heart turns to stone.

Tears have fell,
Leaving graceless sorrow,
No one should dwell,
On the sadness of tomorrow.

"Sonya!!!" The Doctor cried out, reaching out as Sonya fell, only to touch the cold hard surface of the glass cell. Tears began to mount up in his eyes as he lowered his head, his arms flopping down to his side. Then it hit him, what Sonya had told him in her final words. His head perked up, eyes beginning to widen as he realized what she had said. "Daughter..." He muttered, shooting up from his sitting position and bolting to his TARDIS, opening the door and halfway stepping through before stopping and looking back up to the ceiling and pointing to it, knowing that The Valeyard was watching.

"You took away the closest thing i had to a daughter" The Doctor hissed, "The Master told me that i would turn into you...well...i know now that he was wrong. I have seen my future and i know what i need to do. First i am going to find Sonya's daughter then i am bringing back the Time Lords. Then! Just to top it all off! I am going to find you no matter what it takes because you've just made your appointment with The Doctor..and The Doctor..is in". Without another word, The Doctor quickly turned into the TARDIS and shut the door behind him. With three glorious groans from the engine and time rotor, the TARDIS took off, entering reality and starting off on a brand new course.

The figure turned and stared at the young woman standing behind him, a cold smile gracing his features as he took in the look of pure loathing plastered across her face, eyes locked onto the screens in front of her. "He... He did it." She managed to gasp out, bright blue eyes turning to lock onto the man beside her, shock suddenly replacing the anger as she stared at him in confusion. "He was her friend! And he killed her!"

"You needed to see." Was all the valeyard said, watching her as she began pacing around the room, an angry hand reaching up to wipe the tears from her eyes as they threatened to spill over. "I'm going to kill him. Just the same way he killed her, I want to see the look of fear in his eyes the same way it was in hers. I want him to loose everything all at once just so I can see that Behave! pay." Without another look in the direction of the man with her, she pulled the sleeve back from her left arm and tapped a few buttons on the manipulator strapped there, vanishing in a bright flash of light, leaving the Valeyard standing in the empty room with the same cold smile. "Run to your mother's killer, Tyra. Destroy him as he destroyed you."