THE CHOICES OF A TIME LORD

Author note Chapter is now up. Please to Jennyrated Anomaly for reviewing.

.Disclaimer I dont own Doctor who.


"I destroyed the Time Lords." His words rang in her ears, as a sudden slap was heard, as Ten rubbed his face, even Four looked shocked that his young cousin would slap someone.

"You slapped me!" exclaimed Four. "Well, you slapped future me." He muttered.

Erisa glared at both Doctors. They both recognized that look. It meant Erisa was a right bad temper. Four decided this would probably be a good time to stay quiet, as he swiftly made his way towards the console.

"What was that for?" groaned Ten.

Erisa wiped the tears from her face, avoiding looking at Ten. The silence became unbearable, and even the TARDIS felt the tension in the room, as Ten took her gently trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away. "What was it like being God, deciding who lived, and who died, watching Gallifrey burn?" The Doctor gave no reply, as he looked at the ground below him. "Tell me." She hissed. The tears streamed down her face, as she sobbed uncontrollable.

"It wasn't like that," said the Doctor. "I didn't have a choice." It was never like that. Thought the Doctor to himself. He tried to save them, but they all died, as the inner voice in his head shouted coward, whether or not that was true was beyond the point. He had the chance to end it for good, and he took it and along with it, every single one of his people. He loved to forget what he had done, but he couldn't because he thought about it every single day, the grief, the pain the never ending loneliness that never seemed to go away.

"There's always a choice, you taught me that." She hissed, angrily pulling away from him. "Stay away from me," she whispered. "You are not the Doctor, the real Doctor would not have done that. He would have saved us. "Who the hell are you?" she spat, as she ran from the console room towards her room. She was followed by both Ten and Four.

But Four blocked Ten saying, "Leave her, let me talk to her." Ten just nodded, but stood there watching the scene, before him, wanting nothing more to comfort her, before walking away.

"Erisa please," said Four from behind the door, "Let me in."

"Go away!" she cried. Four couldn't bear to hear her cry. He had never been able to watch her cry, even as children in the Academy.

"Erisa, come on open the door. I am not leaving until you do. I can wait all day if I need to."

After a few minutes, she opened the door, as Four stood there with concern on his face. He could tell she had been crying. He wiped a tear from her face as he wrapped his arms around her.

All of a sudden the Cloister Bell started, and all thoughts of the fight were temporarily forgotten. Erisa jumped as panic filled her. "Something has broken in," said Four.

"The clones," whispered Erisa a mixture of fear, and urgency was evidential in her voice. "Doctor," She shouted, almost panicking. "I think now would be a good time to run." They started to run through various corridors in the TARDIS, as footsteps were heard following them.

"Why are they here? Why now?" whispered Erisa.

"Well, I suspect it's to stop us from interfering with the Dalek invasion on Earth," Four replied.

"Where did the other Doctor go?" Erisa asked, as she suddenly noticed the future Doctor was not there. She quickly glanced around, but he was nowhere to be seem.

"I don't know, maybe he went to have a nice little chat with the clones." Four then muttered under his breath, "And avoid getting slapped again."

"Well, if you won't be serious..." snapped Erisa as she glared at Four.

"You slapped him! I mean you really slapped him," Four kept repeating.

"All right, but we don't have time for this! " Erisa grabbed Four. "Come on we have to go and find the Doctor, umm the other Doctor." As they found their way back to the console room Ten was standing there mumbling in Gallifrean, not noticing that Erisa and Four had arrived.

"What's going on?" Four asked Ten.

"An important compartment has been removed from the TARDIS."

"Well, how important?" Four asked.

"Your TARDIS is useless at the moment."

"I see," replied Four.

"Doctor, I don't think you realize the seriousness of the situation," Erisa said looking at Four.

"But I do, I do. I assure you."

"Doctor! Without the TARDIS, we are stuck on Gallifrey," Erisa sighed deeply, as she continued to mutter, "useless" under her breath.

Ten, looked at Erisa. "Come on, nothing is completely useless."

Erisa frowned at him. "You know right now, some kind of plan might be an idea."

"I have a plan, I always have a plan. We need to go to my work shop, I mean your work shop, Doctor."

"All right," Four said. Erisa will show you where it is. Level four; up these stairs, turn left, turn left, turn right, up some more stairs, then turn right, turn left-"

"Never mind we will find our own way," Erisa interrupted, knowing the Doctor's directions, had often ended up with her wandering in the TARDIS for days. Erisa followed Ten not saying anything to him, the silence between them continued to linger. He had forgotten how much Erisa could sulk over things.

He sighed. "Look, Erisa, this hasn't even happened for you yet, in this Time line anyway."

"Oh, well that makes it okay then," spat Erisa.

Ten sighed. "Look, can we please not fight. I love-"

Erisa's laughed bitterly, "You don't even know me. How can you start saying you love me, when in effect you murder my people? That's not love!" she shouted.

"The stairs" said the Doctor, trying to grab a hold of her, before she tumbled down the stairs. Running down the stairs to where Erisa lay in a heap, he helped her up saying, "let me help."

"I'm quite capable, I don't need your help."

"Yes, you do" said the Doctor softly. For the briefest moment, they both just looked at each other before Ten learned forward to kiss her and for a moment she kissed him back. Erisa didn't understand this, she barely knew this future Doctor, but yet she felt like she had known him her entire life. In a way he did, but it was her who didn't know him. She couldn't possibly understand the pain he was carrying around with him. Did he feel remorse after the way he would end the time war, and the way she would die? Because she knew despite him changing time it would still happen. How could he not know this? All Time Lords knew this because they ruled time, so they understood the consequences.

The Doctor pulled her up. "I am sorry," he finally said, looking into her clear green eyes that sparkled like the ocean. He looked away for a moment, sometimes it hurt to see her right there standing in front of him, a remainder of all he had lost during the Time War.

"Come on, level four work shop," Erisa said grabbing hold of Ten's hand. "So, what exactly are we looking for?" Erisa asked, as they both walked into the work shop.

"A compartment that will get the TARDIS to work. It can't be that difficult."

"Not for you, you are smart, but me... I cant even fix a -"

"Don't, talk about yourself like that, you are smarter than you think."

"I must be mad! I'm sick of being chased by Clones, listening to endless lectures by the Time Lords, I'm sick and tired of being on Gallifrey listening to, 'we can't intfere.' Why can't you just take me away from Gallifrey?"

"Now, screwdriver." She handed him the screwdriver, and just watched him attempting to make the compartment the TARDIS needed with a bored expression on her face.

"I am so sick of that sonic screwdriver, why can't you just have a laser screwdriver and have done with it?"

"What!" as he suddenly sat up, banging his head on the work bench.

"Never mind" Erisa said, shaking her head. It seemed when it came to this future Doctor, he was no different in the future, he still didn't listen. Erisa screamed in frustration, as she continued to mutter in Gallifrean.

"Did you even hear what I said?"

"Something about Gallifrey living in the dark ages."

Erisa sighed "You never listen to me Why don't you ever listen?" standing up she walked to the door looking back for a brief second. "I might as well be talking to myself" she sighed loudly.

"What was that?" asked the Doctor, standing up. "Umm," says the Doctor to himself, "I really don't know why she always has to act like that."

Erisa just stood there with her arms folded. "Are we done yet?"

"All done, Allons-y!"

Erisa looked at him, puzzled by the word.

"Ah, its French, it means let's go."

Erisa followed the Doctor out of the work shop. She paused as if she wanted to tell the Doctor something. "If you are crossing into your own time line, don't you think about what you left behind?"

The Doctor stared at her blankly "I don't remember anything."

"Sally Sparrow, your companion?"

"Sally, who?"

"Must be a side effect of being taken out of time. But Doctor you fail to see what you have done. As Time Lords, we rule time so we understand it all, and right now there is this invasion taking place, because when you changed time, the Daleks didn't come to Gallifrey, you never met your companions Rose, Donna, Martha, Jack and Sally. Then the whole world just changed around you, the Daleks invaded the earth instead."

The Doctor went quite pale it was almost like she had slapped him again. What had he done? he thought, as he realized his errors.

They walked back into the console room in silence. Ten started running around full of energy as he talked at a hundred words a minute. Even Erisa failed to understand what he was saying as he put the compartment in the TARDIS. "All done."

"How did you do that?" asked Four.

"Don't you know, I'm just brilliant?"

"So Doctor, are we going to Earth?" Erisa asked Four, it wasn't really a question it was more of a statement.

"Yes, I am," Four said not meeting her eye, he braced himself for her childlike side to come out. As much as he loved his cousin he knew taking her with him meant he would have to take care of her, and protect her, and basically teach her. He doubted she had ever come across a real Dalek.

"Wait a minute, you just said you. Well what about me?"

"It's too dangerous for you," he said not meeting her eyes.

"Too dangerous?" she snapped. "I am not a child," she shouted, "I am 120 years old. You can't just leave me here. What about all times I saw Cybermen, Sea Devils, Siluarians? It's not fair I can see all that, then you just leave me. I don't want stay on Gallifrey."

"You will be safe here."

"Safe! there are Time Lord clones on Gallifrey!" Erisa stood there glaring at him.

Four hit himself on the head, "right, clones, got to deal with them first."

"And, then can I come ?"

"The Time Lords want you to remain here, they have decided you need to continue your education."

Erisa frowned. She hated the Academy, it was so unfair after all the years she had been a student there that they were making her repeat her studies for attempting to interfere in other peoples, and planets affairs. All she wanted to do was help others like the Doctor had, but the high council had deemed her actions, as meddling and breaking the laws she promised to up hold.

"Yeah, and I can bet I know which ones," replied Erisa sarcastically. There was a long pause where neither Doctor spoke. "I didn't know you were a coward Doctor." She cried as the tears fell down her face. She ran through the TARDIS, through the grounds of Gallifrey, she ran through the lush red grass in some sort of make shift TARDIS. it wasn't a TARDIS, but it looked like one. It was a secret den of sorts, and Erisa used to go there whenever she was upset, hurt, or scared. As a child she would spend hours there.

The Doctor banged his head against the console cursing the Time lords in Gallifrean.

Why did they always do this to him? Making him do their dirty work, first it was take Erisa from Gallifrey, then it was leave her here, like an endless time loop it never stopped, and then of course she was upset, and he was the one who had to deal with her. if he wasn't fighting with the Time Lords, he was fighting with members of his own family.

"Go after her." urged Ten.

"Why, What good can it do?"

"Tell her you love her, Doctor," said Ten.

Four shifted uncomfortably, "Why do you think I do?"

"Because I do, I did, and I regret never telling her, and when I lost her that's the one thing I never ever told her." There was a long pause. "I'm guessing that hasn't happened yet, that there's nothing like that between you, anyway." He quickly changed the subject. "Don't worry, you do what you got to," said Ten. "I will take care of her, and deal with the clones."

It was then that Four realized, it was all about Erisa. He saw the grief that Ten was carrying around with, and he realized Ten loved her. So whatever happens in the future, he was meant to fall in love with Erisa himself, then in some horrible Time War he loses her.

Ten eventually found Erisa, she was lying in the make shift TARDIS, asleep. He just watched her for a brief moment, she was the same as he always remembered her, so beautiful. He was not going to make the same mistake and end up losing her by having her fall through some void with the Daleks. Suddenly her eyes opened, "Doctor?" she whispered.

"Shh," he whispered. "I heard something outside." Erisa peeped through a gap in the TARDIS den.

"Is it them?" He whispered.

She nodded, "What are we going to do? We have to inform the High council of Time Lords."

"Come on then." He whispered, as he took her hand leading her towards the palace.

As they were entering the Palace Erisa froze sensing something was wrong. Her gift of prophecy was so much stronger than his, he didn't know if that was because he was crossing his own time line. He spun Erisa around until she was facing him.

"Don't know, something doesn't feel right." She suddenly felt uneasy almost like something or someone was watching her, she couldn't focus, it was getting harder almost like her prophecy skills were somehow being blocked, but why?

"You have got to think, What do you see?"

"There are clones in-" suddenly a shot was heard within the palace, as Erisa collapsed onto the ground.

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