shivver | "The Last Gift"

Title: "The Last Gift"
Fandom(s): Doctor Who
Characters: Tenth Doctor
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word Count: 380

Summary: When there's nothing left to give...

Author's Notes: Written for Flash Fan Fiction Friday for Literary Fan Fiction at deviantArt (prompt: "Control") and drabble contest for

who_contest at LiveJournal (prompt: "Child").

References to "The End of Time", "Journey's End", and "The Caves of Androzani".

I'm dying. You're coming for me, Death, and there's nothing I can do to stop you. But I can hold you off, just a little longer.

I've failed, this time around. I've been shown my soul and I can see what I've done. I've taken in good, brilliant people, and turned them into fighters, killers. The Children of Time, they're called: my companions, my protégés. The Defender of the Earth, with her stony stare and her gun as large as she is. The immortal Captain with his platoon, hiding under the ground, waiting with their arms and technology for the next attack from above. The Woman Who Walked the Earth and her husband, the "Idiot", tracking alien menaces and destroying them before they can harm their world. The Most Important Woman in the Universe, the one who tried to guide me, to stop me, to keep me from falling into the darkness. The one who never touched a weapon. Ha! Now there's my finest work! To thank her for her efforts, I stole her life from her. And then my Sarah Jane, who waited decades for me to return to her. She still devotes her life and her son to battling the endless threats from the skies.

Without my friends, I lose my way. But with them, they lose theirs. They become my pawns, my soldiers in this eternal war against the universe that I call my life. I train them to analyze threats, draw up strategies, and wade fearlessly into battle. They've left me, all of them, and they're still fighting. And they're training new soldiers to carry on my legacy.

They're with their families now, living their own lives, as normal as they can possibly be, which isn't much. I know you're waiting for them, Death, and they'll come to you eventually. Well, one of them, you'll be waiting a very long time for. The others, you'll see them all too soon. But I can hold you off, just a little longer. Protect them, save them, or at least give them a bit of hope, a little happiness. One last time.

I owe it to my friends to try because I got them into this. So, you see, I'm not going to let you stop me now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I love the final line. (It's those little touches that reminds you it's still the same man). And I'm sure the Doctor believes that he just makes his companions suffer, though they'd probably disagree. A well-made story!

Thank you! That's just what I was trying to do with that line - same man, same drive to protect his friends.

Lovely entry, I really enjoyed the way you portrayed every single one of the Doctor's friends, and what they turned into under his influence… it was quite striking, very intense and the sharp awareness of the error in his ways could really be felt in his every word. I love that feeling that it was so wrong and yet it could not be escaped—Without my friends, I lose my way. But with them, they lose theirs. Beautiful. Ten's final goodbye was so bleak in that regard, yet he was determined to do one last thing for each of his friends—give them more time, hold death off as he was holding her from him, at arm's length, yet carrying her in his every cell. Every beautiful idea, and very striking. Thank you for this!

Thank you! It was an interesting exercise, because I don't agree with his and Davros' interpretations of his influence on his companions, so I had to try to paint the images of them that he's seeing that's causing him to blame himself so much. (Rose's was the most striking, as you'd think he'd see her as this perfect girl. I used her image from Journey's End with the big gun, which I think must have horrified him on some level when he saw her. And then Davros points out the soldier thing...) And then turn it around to him giving them more, because that's really what the Doctor is, giving everyone everything he can, sacrificing himself for them.

Interesting indeed! You make a very good point about Rose, especially since at first he must have felt only the amazed joy of seeing her again, yet when it sunk in… Tough.

And then turn it around to him giving them more, because that's really what the Doctor is, giving everyone everything he can, sacrificing himself for them.
This, absolutely. ^_^

Argh! Now you've got me wishing I could draw, because I have these images in my head of the Doctor, in his long brown coat, holding hands with Neil Gaiman's Death, visiting all the companions. She's got her usual sunny expression, while his is tired and both happy and sad. Headcanon!

Ohhhh, gorgeous image! Why can't we all be artists? ;P

Gah, more feels!

Ohhh, this is beautiful! And what a fascinating and unique take on the prompt! Well done, lovie!

*HUGS*

Thank you! I don't know why, but I plan every contest to try to write something about anyone other than Ten, but it always comes back to him somehow, sometimes in the weirdest ways. :)

LOL!! Well, he is your favorite. So it is no surprise that he likes to pop up for these challenges. *Smiles*

True, true! When I started working on this prompt, it was supposed to be the Fifth Doctor. Then I got sidetracked. Ah well. He'll get his time in the sun someday.

Interesting story. You don't see a lot of stuff written from the Doctor's POV. Nicely done.

Thanks! I try to stay away from the Doctor's POV as much as possible, because he's an enigmatic person and an alien to boot, so I feel I can't possibly do his thought processes justice. He's a far more fascinating character when viewed by someone else.

Donna, his finest work. I can't argue there... she never did touch a weapon, and she absolutely knew he was on the precipice and her job was to keep him from falling. She did it spectacularly well, too! His job was to help her see just how brilliant she truly was, so it was a shame what he ended up having to do to her.

Loved the last line. That about summarizes it.

Thank you! I think I mostly wrote the whole thing so that I could use that last line.

I just watched "The End of Time" last night, so, yeah... ~feels~ about this.

I wanted to do a "Waters of Mars" / "The End of Time" marathon last night, but didn't get to it. <3 the feels!

"The Last Gift"

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