The ceiling fan turned span around on its axis as fast as a helicopter's blades. Underneath it a solitary figure lays on the bed looking up at the fan and remembering. She was dressed only in her underwear due to the heating unit malfunctioning and being on too high. For a week she has been waiting, but she's still in the Capitol. She looks over at her bedside table and sees a bottle of ginger pop. The walls seem to move in a little closer but she feels freedom call her on.
Casually she smashes the top off the bottle and takes a drink of the beverage. Every minute she gets weaker while the Valeyard, he gets strong. Casually she drains the last dregs of the bottle and she stands up. She walks over to the full-length mirror and she practices Venusian Aikido in front of it. The effects of the ginger pop affect her and she accidentally strikes the mirror. She ignores it at first until she notices the blood.
She lurches over the bed and collapses on the other side and she pulls the thin white sheets around her shoulders. She examines the wound now and pulling out a tiny shard of glass she screams in agony, ripping her underwear off until she is naked before god. All she wanted was a mission and for her sins they gave her one. She collapses now, naked and broken. She is in a hell of her own making. They brought it up just like room service 'cause everyone gets what they want. There was a knock at the door and she pulls the blanket loosely around her body before answering it. And when this mission is all over, she'll never want another one.
"Are you the Doctor?" the first Chancellery Guard asked sternly.
"Piss off, I'm trying to sleep." The Doctor tried to shut the door.
The second Guard catches the door and holds it open. "Damn, we'd better get her cleaned up."
"Come on Doctor, time for a little shower." The first guard picks the Doctor up from the floor and hands the sweat soaked sheet to her colleague. "You make some tea while I clean her up."
The Doctor screams, swears and shouts in shock as ice-cold water splashes into her face. The Guard holds her head under the shower however. Somehow she summons up the energy to get rid of the dirt and grime before she is handed a towel and told to get dried. Afterwards they hand her a cup of tea, which she drinks in one gulp.


The Doctor found herself being escorted to a Transmat terminal where she was transported to a strange grey and blue complex. She was met by a thin serious looking Time Lord and escorted to a meeting room. For some reason they were about to serve lunch so she sat down at the place prepared for her. When she sat down they passed her a metal container, which had beef satay inside it. She put a small portion on her plate before passing it over to the person on her right.
"Do you like shrimp Doctor?" the host asked. "If you try this no one will ever question your courage again."
"I'll pass thanks," the Doctor replied before chewing a small piece of her meal. "So what do the Celestial Intervention Agency want with me?" She smiled when she saw their shocked faces.
"Doctor, you know the Valeyard? We've got a problem and I know you can help us all. He's gone rogue and his methods are unsound. Here's the file, it's all you'll need to know." The host passed a folder over to the Doctor. "There's a conflict in every Time Lords hearts and the temptation is to take it all too far. Sometimes things get so confused, but there are some things that cannot be excused."
"Intimately. He's me, a psychotic version of me anyway." She read some of the files casually. It was all information she knew anyway. "So why all the secrecy?"
"Doctor, we would like you to take an unregistered TARDIS to a specific point in the space/time continuum where we believe the Valeyard is operating from and we want you to terminate his command with extreme prejudice."
"You want me to call him nasty names?" she joked before juggling the salt and pepper pots.
"We want you to destroy him utterly. The route is dangerous and your progress may be slow but we believe you are the right person for the mission."
"When do I leave?" the Doctor asked, not sure why she said it. The Valeyard had to be dealt with though and she would prefer to do it her own way or at least on her own terms.
"We will transfer you, your companion and a specialist team to the TT capsule in three hours. This is of course top secret, should you or your friend be caught the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck Doctor." The host shook the Doctors hand.


Hannah was winning easily. Computer battleships was too easy even when she tried to give the old bloke she was trouncing a fair chance.
"Not my sort of thing really Miss Sinclair. I'm a landlubber and proud of it." Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (retired) resigned the game.
"One more game please?" Hannah begged. "I'll let you have an extra two ships."
"I'm sorry Miss Sinclair but I can only face humiliation so many times." The Brigadier looked up at the sound of the door opening and saw it was the Doctor entering the room. "I was wondering where you had got to Doctor." He stood up and shook her hand. "Doris said to pass along her sympathies. We only heard about it before that infernal black triangle brought me here. Miss Sinclair has been filling me in on the rest of this business."
There was a blast of cold wind and a black triangle appeared in the centre of the room. It deposited a single figure in the centre of the room. Leela picked herself up and drew her knife. "Show yourself Tesh," she shouted before turning around to see the Doctor, Hannah and a fat man in a cardigan. "Doctor, why did you bring me here?" she demanded.
"It's a long story Leela. Let me brew up a pot of tea and explain it to everyone."


Hannah finished her tea just as the Doctor finished her lengthy explanation. She knew that the Doctor was unlikely to kill the Valeyard if she could possibly avoid it. It just wasn't the Doctor's style. Sure bringing down the odd dictatorship before lunch and avoiding planetary catastrophes were very much the Doctor's thing but cold-blooded killing? No way, no way at all. "How's the little one Leela?" she asked, trying to lift the conversation.
"He is fine, he is learning to hunt with the knife now. He is very proficient at throwing it over short distances."
"That's a valuable social skill," the Doctor butted in laughing.
Leela laughed too, it was true. Every Sevateem warrior needed to rely on the knife skills of the others at any given time. "The knife is the second step towards becoming a warrior."
"What's the first step?" Hannah asked.
"To kill your enemy with your bare hands of course. Did your tribe not teach you anything of use?"
"How to order pay-per-view." Hannah offered.
"I can make my own jewellery." The Doctor pointed out. "I made these earrings myself."
"They are very nice." Leela said. "You will be able to kill anything that threatens you with them?"
The Doctor shook her head. "I always thought a stern lecture would do more good in the long run."
"If that doesn't work then a swift knee in the you know where usually works." Hannah raised a knowing eyebrow to Leela and the Doctor.
"My daughter Kate has a son." The Brigadier said casually.
The Doctor's head snapped round faster than Linda Blair's in The Exorcist. "What? I had no idea you old charmer."
"My first wife and I have a daughter. We divorced a long time ago; round about the time Mike Yates was promoted to Captain if I remember correctly."
"Yes, yes Alison. You mentioned her once or twice. Talk about a dark horse Alistair, you have one or two secrets don't you. I like it."


The Doctor was in the console room when the landing bleep sounded. She didn't like this new mark 98; it was far too impersonal. She had resisted from adding any personal touches to the console room after all this just wasn't the same as her own. Hannah, Leela and the Brigadier joined her shortly and they viewed the landscape on the wall-mounted screen.
It was a dense jungle like affair and they were apparently on the edge of a large river. Suddenly the walls twisted and blurred and they were exposed to the sky. They were now standing on the deck of a medium sized riverboat. The air smelled fresh and clean although the water looked a little dirty. Hannah pulled off her leather jacket and let the suns rays fall upon her sleeveless arms.
The controls were very basic and for some odd reason small strips of masking tape with the translations were tacked underneath the controls. Hannah suspected this was for the benefit of herself, Leela and the Brigadier.
Casually the Doctor switched the engines on and slipped the gearbox into forward. They pulled away slowly at first but built up speed quickly. "I always wanted to be a Wren!" She laughed. "Well actually I just wanted to have a life on the ocean waves but this will do." She somehow managed to bring it under control and kept it at a constant speed. It was more or less at this point that the black triangle of the Time Scoop deposited its final figure, Claire Mason!
Hannah ran over to Claire and threw her arms around Claire's shoulders and hugged her before they kissed deeply and passionately. Finally they broke their embrace and saw the red faced looks of the others. "Sorry" Hannah said, not really meaning it. She had a broad grin on her face like the Cheshire Cat.
Claire filled in the few details she had about her recovery. "There was this thin bloke standing over me right and he said I'd be with you all shortly. He held this globe of glass and inside of it was you lot moving about and things. I'm babbling so I'll shut up now." She paused for a deep breath. "Oh yeah and they gave me some short of injection and well here I am. I have to say though, I did not like that last ride one bit."
Hannah and Claire quickly slipped off into the bowels of the TARDIS, intent on making up for all the nights they had missed in bed together, leaving the Doctor to chat with Leela and the Brigadier.


"More tea, Brigadier?" the Doctor asked after a while. "Perhaps a scone too? They're cheese." She passed the plate of pastries over to her old friend.
The Brigadier shook his head. "No thank you Doctor, I have to watch my figure."
The Doctor laughed and turned to Leela. "And they call us vain?"
Leela merely nodded.


They had been travelling for a few hours when they came across what looked like a war zone. There were people with guns firing at other people with guns. Quickly they put up a force shield to stop any random firing striking them. The Doctor relaxed on deck sitting on a reclining chair and drinking a cup of tea as they sailed through the conflict.
The Brigadier coughed as he settled down on his chair. "I must say Doctor, you're taking all this in your stride. I'd have thought you'd have gone to pieces by now."
"I'm firmly in control of myself Alistair, usually. As you always told me a little bit of discipline would do me the world of good. Usually after I had rescued you from whatever mess you used to get into each week."
"My blood and thunder days are behind me now Doctor, I still have my duty of course. To my king and my friends." He smiled thinly at the blonde Time Lady. "Especially the ones who get themselves into all sorts of scrapes on a daily basis."
"Touché Alistair, touché. Are you not having any tea Leela?" the Doctor asked her former time travelling companion.
"One of us needs to be alert Doctor, in case the enemy should attack." Leela returned her gaze to the shorelines.
"I wish I had more soldiers like her in my day Doctor. Then we would have shown the Master a thing or two. It only seems like yesterday that Miss Shaw joined UNIT you know." Finishing his tea he set the cup down beside his seat and sighed. "Where did all the days go?"
"Mostly spent looking after your soldiers Alistair." The Doctor replied. "And myself of course, when I got in too deep. How is Liz these days anyway?"
"She's a grandmother now, hardly ever sees her daughter after she emigrated. Last thing I heard was she was involved with PROBE doing research into ghosts."
"The Doctor says that ghosts are not to be feared." Leela shouted from the foredeck. "The Doctor does not fear anything."
"Not quite Leela. I fear a universe where tyranny and injustice rule. I fear what the Valeyard is planning to do now he has aligned himself with the Cybermen and I fear that I am dragging you all along into unnecessary danger."
The Brigadier replied first. "Stuff and nonsense Doctor, we all know what we're letting ourselves in for."
"Do you Alistair? What if I was to tell you, either of you what I know of the future? The battle that is to come? The very end of the universe itself? Would you call that stuff and nonsense then hmmm?"
"Probably Doctor." He looked at his friend and saw the look of pain in her eyes. "No, probably not but I wouldn't sit around moping about it either. I'd get out there and tell everyone to pull their socks up and jolly well get along together."


Finally Hannah and Claire returned on deck, after claiming to get something to eat. It hadn't been far from the truth in fact, but it wasn't anyone else's business. No one mentioned that Hannah was wearing Claire's skirt and Claire was dressed in Hannah's jeans. Hannah started to play poker with the Brigadier while the Doctor and Claire talked a few things over.
"Was I really out five months? No wonder my legs needed shaving badly and my armpits, well lets not talk about Jurassic Park ok?"
"Claire it's ok you don't need to say anything, I'm just happy you're well again." The Doctor hugged her companion briefly before making everyone a nice cup of tea.
"I win again." Hannah cried. "It's a pity we're not playing strip poker."
"I'd have been down to my socks long ago Miss Sinclair."
"Call me Hannah please, I hate formalities. You'd really leave your socks until last?"
"I'm afraid the Brigadier is from the old school Hannah. I'm sure he'd call me Miss Doe if he didn't know me better. Eh Alistair?"
"Respect is something sadly lacking these days Doctor." The Brigadier dealt another hand. "I may be a little old fashioned but I'm not some stick in the mud chauvinist you know." The game was called and he put down his cards, confident of his first win but he was trounced easily. "I think my poker skills could do with bringing up to date though. Perhaps you could teach an old dog one or two new tricks Miss Sinclair? Hannah?"
Hannah picked the cards up and shuffled them at a blinding speed. "I think we can arrange something."


Slowly but surely the boat-shaped TARDIS made its way north along the river. They passed through steamy rainforests, past abandoned buildings before they came upon a large wooden bridge. Leela spotted a man standing on the shore waving to them.
Closer inspection revealed he was dressed in a pinstripe suit and wearing a bowler hat. The Doctor took the hat from him and pushed it onto her long blonde hair.
"I say Doctor, here's a few more documents that have come to light." He handed the sealed sheaf over before vanishing from sight.
The Doctor studied these new documents for a while before tearing them up and throwing the pieces in the river. "We have to hurry," she said simply to her companions. "There isn't much time."
"What is it Doctor?" Hannah asked, concerned for the Doctor.
"The Valeyard has been sighted upstream with a whole host of Cybermen. They're converting thousands of people into more of their number. It has to end, now...before things really get out of hand."


Things were silent for a while and everyone got boring so Claire found a couple of coloured smoke flares and set them off. She laughed and sang "Purple Haze" while clouds of the purple coloured smoke drifted backwards over the boat. "Excuse me while I kiss this girl." She kissed Hannah and they dueted until the smoke bombs were exhausted.


Slowly the boat began to drift into a zone of total destruction. The river shores were scorched with soot and the smell of burning flesh filled their nostrils. This however turned out to be Leela barbecuing several river animals she had caught and killed.
Hannah faked a smile. "Mmmm, I love the smell of cremated dead thing in the evening. Smells like Teen Spirit." Hannah wished she had brought her Nirvana CD's with her although she preferred Hole more.
The scorched ground slowly gave way to machine efficiency and soon steel structures were the norm. The water became a sickly orange colour due to the number of impurities being flushed into it. What little life remained in it were twisted mutations with large chemical burns, oozing blood, on their bodies.
They were forced to eat the bland food bars and drink from the bags of water the machine produced. The Doctor assured them she was trying to create a proper kitchen but a fault in the architectural circuits was making it difficult. She complained to anyone who would listen. "Look, I can create rooms full of little plastic balls, rooms filled with fabulous lost art treasures, rooms larger than some moons but somehow the microwave cooker is beyond the programming of this craft." The Doctor put her hands on her hips and kicked the console. "I want to make a cup of tea!" She shouted. "Give me tea!"
"Come on Doctor, calm down." The Brigadier put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it's trying it's best."
"My sixth persona built a whole kitchen complete with a dish washer. How come I can't manage a simple kettle and tea bags?"
"Your sixth persona was an irrational obsessive compulsive Doctor." The Brigadier comforted the Doctor. "You just have different priorities."
The Doctor put her head on the Brigadier's chest. "I need tea, I have a symbiotic relationship with tea. I was sure I had more tea bags in my pockets."
"The machine can make tea Doctor, it may not be hand made but I'm sure it won't be any worse than Jo's attempts at making it." The Brigadier tried to cheer the Doctor up.


The boat continued upstream. They were forced to create a shield to keep the poisonous fumes from the chemical river form overpowering with its noxious fumes.
The occupants kept themselves busy as the light faded. Hannah taught the Brigadier a few more tricks and Claire chatted to the Doctor and Leela.
The Brigadier took the first watch saying that he rarely slept when away from Doris. Leela took the second watch and the Doctor took the early morning watch.


It was quiet, too quiet really. The roar of three Cyber-scoutships travelling overhead broke the early morning silence. The others popped their heads out one by one to see what the noise was. The Doctor pointed to the three ships before they vanished over the horizon. "I think they may have spotted us no need to panic though. Cybermen are not known to react unless they perceive something as a threat to their survival."
"That would be us Doctor, collectively we have more than enough experience fighting them and defeating them." The Brigadier pulled a chunky revolver from his overnight bag. "I wondered if these would ever come in useful." He loaded the gun and closed the breach.
"What's so special about that weapon?" Leela took an interest. Magic weapons were of great interest to her.
"Gold bullets, very effective against Cybermen." He smiled at the Doctor but she turned away. He frowned. "Its purely for self defence Doctor. There's rather a lot more of them than us you know."
"Yes" she snapped, "I do know. I know that very well. Always too many of them. They don't just kill though do they? No they convert the wounded and the prisoners into more of themselves, a production line of soulless killers. It has to stop Alistair; it has to stop once and for all. I have to kill them all." The Doctor sighed. "Then I have to kill him, me. I must stop this unholy alliance now."
"You have your duty too Doctor."
"Duty? State approved genocide is closer to the mark. When did I stop being an adventurer and become everybody's quick fix solution? Can you tell me?"
"If you should ask me to, I'll shoot him for you Doctor. One bullet into each of his hearts, it will be painless and quick."
"NO!" Even the Doctor was surprised by the anger in her voice. "No, he's my responsibility, I have to deal with him myself."
The Brigadier patted the Doctor on her shoulder. "As I said Doctor, you have your duty."


Small Jet Ski's met the boat eventually. Each one was operated by a Cyberscout and they directed the boat shaped TARDIS upstream to a large mud brick structure.
"The Valeyard's TARDIS," the Doctor whispered to her companions. "Trust him to create something like that in the middle of this mechanical nightmare."
A human looking person met them. "How do you do? I'm Troy McClure, you may have seen me in films such as 'The Jungle Savage', 'Forest of Deadly Snakes' and 'Bingo: The Farmer's Dog'."
They helped Troy onboard before going the final few hundred yards up the river to a large set of stone steps. "How do you do?" Troy asked, shaking hands with everyone. "I'm an American citizen."
Hannah was pleased to meet a fellow American; it had been too British on board at times she felt.
"We're here." The Doctor announced, switching the engines off. "Now to get down to business. Claire, Hannah you stay here and keep an eye on Mr. McClure here."
"I...I have to go with you. He's a great man you know, some days he'll ignore you but other days he'll grab you by the shoulders and say 'do you know that if is the middle two words in life?' He's very profound."
The Doctor smiled at Troy. "And a little liberal with the quotes as well it seems. Well come on then. If we're not back by nightfall send a message to Gallifrey requesting your rescue and immediate time loop of this whole area."
"Gee what are we going to do in the meantime?" Hannah asked Claire once the Doctor and the others had left.
"I can think of a few things." Claire teased.


The Doctor, Leela and The Brigadier followed Troy up the steps and into a large hall. Troy said that the Valeyard wanted to see the Doctor alone first. Both Leela and the Brigadier protested but two Cybermen pointed their guns at them.
She found her nemesis at the far end of the hall. Even though he was shrouded in shadows he had changed. His head was now completely bald and he emphasised this by splashing a few drops of water on it.
"They sent you here to kill me didn't they?" His voice was soft and quiet, like an evening breeze. "They lack the vision to see things the way we do."
"My mission is to terminate your command, with extreme celerity." The Doctor stated in a matter of fact manner.
"They want you to call me nasty names?" the Valeyard replied as he pulled his tattered black and silver robes around his shoulders. "We cling to things like a drowning man clings to his would be rescuer, dragging him under. These robes, your so-called morality, in the end they will all be swept aside and forgotten. That is what time does is it not? Cold, capricious and uncaring, she is a fickle Mistress and yet you still cling to her like a newborn child."
The Doctor hung her head. "I do what I believe is right. In the end only I can be responsible for my actions and my mistakes."
"Is that what I am? A mistake? A Doctor who is devoid of goodness, caring or humanity? Is that what you believe? Does believing that make it easier to kill me?"
The Doctor sighed. "No. I'm not here to kill you Valeyard."
"Then why do you come here Doctor? Why walk into the mouth of hell?"
"Because I believe it's not too late to save you. I would do the same for any other of my selves. I allowed the Celestial Intervention Agency to recruit me, I allowed this whole situation to take shape just so I had this chance to offer you the hand of friendship."
"You are a fool Doctor, just as I suspected. You are but a paltry shadow of my ambition." The Valeyard leaned forward, his face bathed in a shaft of sunlight. "You will serve our cause willingly as my equal or you shall serve as a Cyberman."
The Doctor gasped. "I need time to think. Let my friends go and I will give you my answer."
The Valeyard smiled, madness glinting in his eyes. "They came here to help you, I think the Brigadier and Leela would make excellent additions to the team; as Cyber Leader and Cyber Lieutenant perhaps."
"No." The Doctor hissed. "Let them leave now or I will destroy all traces of the Cyber Race. You know I can do it, you know I will do it."


"What will they do to us?" Leela asked once the silver giants left. "They are without honour."
"Probably kill us Leela, although I don't fancy the prospect of them trying to turn me into one of them again."
"Use your magic weapon with the gold bullets to kill them." Leela was sure the silver giants would give up once they saw powerful magic being worked.
"Only six bullets I'm afraid. I was hoping we wouldn't need them at all. UNIT is on a budget these days."


"I wonder what your little friends would have to say about your aggressive behaviour?" The Valeyard pointed to a section of wall, which vanished to reveal Claire and Hannah tied up into two Cyber-Conversion booths. "Lets see how quickly they agree with me once they've been converted?"
"Kick his ass Doctor." Hannah suggested.
The Doctor rushed over to her two companions but found that it was in fact a hologrammatic projection. She heard the Valeyard laughing and turned around to see him standing behind her with a large chunk of brick in his hands. She yelled in pain as it thudded against her forehead and everything went stars and tweety birds. Thankfully she blacked out before the real pain hit.


When she came to she was tied up inside a bamboo cage. Troy ladled some water into her mouth and she thanked him. "Why am I in here?" she asked.
"He doesn't want you in his way." Troy replied. "He has plans, so many plans. Some days I can't count the number of plans he has in his head. There's so much he wants to do, it's like a blue print for the entire fragging universe is inside his skull."
"He's mad. I can see it now. I should have done something earlier."
"No, no, no. Don't say that, it'll be bad for you if he hears that." Troy clanked at the three partially converted Cybermen, the rejects. They had been hanged by the neck, from a tree, three days ago for calling him mad. One of them was still twitching its metal limbs. "Very bad for you. Something's wrong with him, I think he's dying. I think he needs someone to speak for him after he's gone. Do you think people are going to say he's a great man? A visionary man? No, there're going to blind themselves all he's said and done."


It was two days later when she was freed from her wooden prison and two Cybermen dragged her to the Valeyard's bedside. He sat on the bed, reading aloud from a book. "We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men. Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless. As wind in dry grass or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion"
Troy was talking to the Doctor. "Dialectic Time Travel is not a precise means of travel. You can't land on a fraction of a planet. You can't land on half the Earth, quarter of the Earth can you?" He took a look around at the metallic landscape outside the mud brick TARDIS.
"This is the way the frickin' world ends Doc. Look at this frickin' @#%$ we're in, man. Not with a bang, but with a frickin' whimper." The Valeyard threw his book at Troy and ordered him to leave. "And with a whimper I'm frickin' splitting Doc." Troy said before scuttling outside.
"The High Council is weak Doctor, they needed a strong hand to stop them becoming a servile parliament. If that happens there will be a new Dark Age and everyone and everything will turn in on itself and they will hurt the other races. I tried to prevent that happening but something's not right. I need the sash but it is denied me."
"Your Gallifreyan biology is resisting the Cyber technology they implanted in you. You are dying Valeyard and you cannot regenerate anymore. You thought you had a new cycle of life but like me this is your last body. You used Cyber technology to artificially extend your lifespan but instead it's killing you one cell at a time."
The Valeyard coughed. "You know my ways. I cannot free your friends; the Cybermen would never allow it to happen. I faked the conversions for their benefit; they're still quite human for what that's worth. Everything dies in the end, even legends. I watched a Tractator crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, swiftly, along the edge of a straight...razor...and surviving." The Valeyard cut her bonds and watched as the Doctor ran out of the room to be with her pets.


The Doctor slipped out of the boat. It was night now and the others were safely locked away inside the TARDIS. It turned out that Claire and Hannah had never been captured, the Valeyard had just used a Sontaran image capture array to fool the Cybermen. She had one last thing to do. Her face was covered in green and brown face paint and her elegant suit was exchanged for a simple pair of disturbed patterned material trousers and a dull green vest. She tied her hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes.
She swam through the chemical river water until she reached the shore and her head emerged, eyes darting around to scan for Cybermen. There was no sign of them so she pulled herself out of the water and waited for most of the water to drip onto the parched dusty ground.
Finally she inched her way up the steps, towards the Valeyard's room. She found him standing there, his back turned to her. She picked up a long handled machete from the floor and aimed it at his back. She now knew why the genius must die. Tears filled her eyes as she swung the blade, again and again. Something wet splashed on her face and she tasted it. It was like Blood and chlorine. When he slumped forwards she hefted the blade and struck several more times. Again blood splashed her face and body. Then she threw the blade away and turned him over, she saw he was still alive. Thin green ooze mingled with thick dark Gallifreyan blood that pooled around his body. She looked down at her blood stained hands before hearing his last words.
"The horror," he whispered. "The horror." Then the Valeyard was still, the light of life faded from his eyes and was extinguished.
Numb, but not with the cold night breeze the Doctor stood up and walked back to the boat shaped TARDIS. She walked on autopilot and found herself taking the boat back down river as fast as it would go. Once they were safe did she allow herself to feel again and they found her the next day curled up in a ball shivering. She's looked into the heart of darkness, where the blood-red journey ends. When you've faced the heart of darkness even your soul begins to bend.