TRIAL OF A TIME LORD: THE VALEYARD

Chapter Twenty One

The Doctor struggled against his adversary's iron grip on his arms while the Valeyard led him towards the chamber where he would be put to sleep with the others.

"Don't struggle little weakling, you might break your fragile bones," the Valeyard sneered.

"I know what you're going to do, Mirza told us."

"Yes, I'm sure the little brat told you everything. Good help is soooo hard to find nowadays," the Valeyard sighed.

The Doctor continued to struggle and the Valeyard, tiring of his resistance, slammed him into the wall.

"Don't make me hurt you further," the Valeyard snarled as he put his lips next to the Doctor's right ear. "I'll do to you what I did to your freak brother."

"Yeah, I'm sure you got loads of practice time cutting open those women when you were Jack the Ripper. No wonder you want to show off your skills."

"Oho, the brat told you that as well? Yes, the mystery is solved. I am Jack the Ripper and let me tell you it was great. Watching the blood spill from those women's throats, opening up and pulling out their guts, so warm and soft and bloody. Perhaps I'll do that to your bitch of a wife."

He laughed when the Doctor bucked, trying to shake him off. The Valeyard pressed harder against his back.

"Your brother cried like a baby and begged for his life. That's what happens when you clone a weakling, you get a weakling just like him," he purred in his ear.

"I swear if I get the chance, you're dead!" the Doctor snarled at him.

"Good. Then you can man up and become me," the Valeyard said. "But you won't do that because you're too much of a pussy to kill anyone. And the ones you do kill, you feel guilty over just like a little girl. I seriously doubt I'll get much dark energy from you, but I'm willing to drain every last drop from you and the others."

"Why are you doing this? If you kill all of us, you'll cease to exist, you idiot," the Doctor said.

"Not so. I exist separately from you and besides, I'm not even from this universe."

The Doctor looked over his shoulder.

"What?"

He grunted when the Valeyard slammed his head hard into the wall, knocking him out.

"That's better, you're rubbish when it comes to conversation," he said, letting him fall to the ground.

He bent down and gathered him into his arms.

"Now my little lab rat, you're going to wake up eventually except it'll be to a dream world...or should I say a nightmare world because I'm going to program in your worst nightmare. That'll keep your mind occupied while I drain what dark energy I can out of your weakling body."

He hurried down the corridor towards the chamber where the other Doctors were located before the Doctor woke up.

Mirza stood with his new friends waiting and watching while Alan came up with a solution for rescuing the Doctors. Even though he hadn't known Alan for very long, he liked him. Unlike the Valeyard and most of the people he had known, Alan treated him with respect and didn't beat or degrade him. Even though he resembled the Greek soldiers he had seen as a little boy, he knew that the man had a good heart and he was glad that he made the choice to free him and his friends. He also knew that he couldn't let him get hurt again and he had to do something to free Alan's brothers. Without a word, Mirza suddenly sprinted past them.

"Mirza!" Alan said as he ran after him. "No, come back!"

Mirza let out an yell of rage when Alan easily caught up to him and grabbed him.

"Let me go, I'll confront Master and get your brothers back," he said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

"No, it's too dangerous," Alan said, holding him tightly from behind.

"Please, I don't want you to get hurt again. Master will kill you," Mirza said. "I like you and I don't want you to die."

Alan's hearts melted. He held the boy close.

"Mirza, stop," he said.

Mirza stopped fighting him and burst into tears as Alan held him close.

"You're only eleven, Mirza. The Valeyard is dangerous. He'd kill you far more quickly than he would me," Alan said to him. "And that's the last thing I want."

The others came up behind Alan as he rocked gently and soothed Mirza who was crying softly.

"This is all my fault. I helped him capture you," Mirza sobbed.

"No, don't blame yourself," Alan said. "You're a young boy, even younger when the Valeyard took you. He abused you and made you help him. You didn't do anything voluntarily. Please don't blame yourself. Goodness knows I get enough of the blame game from my brother."

He smiled when Mirza wrapped his arms around his neck and held close to him. Alan rubbed his back and ached momentarily, wishing he could project love into his mind the way he could with his other family members. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over when Rain knelt down beside him.

"Mirza, would you like to come home with us. You said you didn't have any family that treated you kindly and you were living out on the streets. We'll take care of you if you want."

"Can I come home with you?" Mirza asked Alan.

Alan was stunned. He looked down at Mirza's thin face and innocent, trusting eyes and felt his hearts melt into goo.

"Yes, Mirza, you can come home with me," he said.

He gasped when Mirza hugged him tightly.

See, knew he'd be the perfect match for you.

Alan raised his head when he felt Rain think that into his mind. He looked at her and she winked.

I know you, Bro. you've wanted another child to call your own and here's one right here that seems to like you. Granted, you might drive the poor boy insane with your rantings but then again, there's no one better I can think to raise him, she thought to him.

But, Rose...Alan thought to her.

Rose would agree with me. Besides, I think secretly she would like to have another child, Rain thought back. Go for it, Bro. He needs you.

Alan smiled and nodded. He was going to ask Mirza if he wanted a father when Namid suddenly stepped up beside her mother.

"I've been thinking. Let me be the one to go after the Valeyard," she said.

"Baby, no!" Rain said.

"Mummy, I can do it. Daddy trusted me enough to send me here and I think I have an idea on how to stop the Valeyard."

"How?" Alan asked

"If I can get close enough to him, I think I can convert him to energy and the TARDIS side of me can cleanse him of his darkness and leave him a being of light."

"How d'ya ken this?" Hamish asked as he stepped up beside her.

"My TARDIS side told me this. The TARDIS is made up of pure energy, cleansing energy that can wash away all the evil in the Valeyard."

"And leave him like the Doctor?" Alan said.

"I think so."

"But he's not like the Doctor. I mean, he's not really one of his lives. We know that since he captured all thirteen of your father's lives," Rain said. "Where does that leave him?"

"Perhaps he can be a fourteenth Doctor. One who is not a part of the Doctor's lives but still comes from him. If he's turned into a creature of light, he can do what Daddy does and help keep the universe safe. I think that's why Daddy sent me back here to help out."

"But what about me?" Hamish said.

"You can help me distract him long enough for me to get close to him. He won't think you're much of a threat since you're blind but at the same time you can hold him at bay until I get near enough. You may not believe this, Teacher, but you also have a very special destiny."

Rain and Alan smiled when they saw a grin break out on Hamish's face.

"Mummy, stay with Alan and Mirza and keep them safe."

"No," Mirza said to her. "Let us come and when you're fighting Master, we can release the others and get them out of their prisons."

"He's right, Baby. Let Hamish provide the distraction and we can help free the Doctors. And if they're up to it, they can also help Hamish once they're freed and then you can move in and absorb him."

"Sounds like a plan ta me," Hamish said.

"Okay. Well, let's get going then. We don't have much time left," Namid said.

The Doctor opened his eyes. He looked around and was shocked when he saw he was in one of the TARDIS's cells. He was naked except for a sheet draped around his hips that acted like a loincloth.

"What? Where am I?" he muttered.

He jerked his head around when he saw the Valeyard step in front of the Perspex wall.

"Good morning, my disciple. Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to go down and get Rose back."

The Doctor frowned.

"Get Rose back from where?" he said.

The Valeyard snorted.

"From the freak, idiot. That's why I've been training you so you could kill him and his friends and then you could have Rose all to yourself. They've gone to Japan so that's where you're going. Now on your feet!"

"What? Wait..." the Doctor said, getting to his feet. "You're talking about the time I was under your control and sent to kill Alan and Mingxia and Awinita and Imiko and Rain."

"I believe those are the names of his so-called family, yes," the Valeyard said.

"No, that's ancient history. I've already lived through this. This is just a dream forced on me by the other Valeyard."

"No, you apparently were dreaming just now. I put you in here last night and now it's time to wake up," the Valeyard said impatiently.

The Doctor was about to protest but then he suddenly became confused. This was a dream, wasn't it? Surely, his life with Rain and Alan and his family wasn't some elaborate dream he just had. Surely, he was free of the Valeyard now and he wasn't his slave, was he?"

The Valeyard sighed and held up a familiar looking silver box.

"Get a move on or I increase the frequency on that little silver doo-dah in your head."

The Doctor felt the front of his head as his spine stiffened. The disc was still in his head.

"Well? Are you coming or will I have to use force on you, slave? Because you can either come willingly and carry out your mission or I can beat you again, which is it?"

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