The Daughter of Gallifrey

4: The Burning

Quite unexpectedly, Caroline moved. Her fingers clenched into fists and her body began to seize. She definitely seemed to have escaped her trancelike state.   

"Let. Go. Of. Me!" Katie screamed, thrashing almost as much as her daughter. "Let me go, you idiot!"  

"No. You will burn. Just like her." The Doctor held his grip tighter around her waist.   

"Mum. Mum, stay back," Caroline said, her voice calm, unlike her body. Katie jolted forward.  

"She can hear me! Caroline! Caroline! CAROLINE!" Katie bit down on the Doctor's arm. He tried to ignore it, but he was losing his grip. Without warning, Katie jerked free and tumbled toward Caroline.  

"NO!" The Doctor cried. He shielded his eyes as a blinding light consumed Katie Thomas. "Stupid human! Why doesn't anyone listen to me? Why? NO ONE EVER LISTENS!" He shook with rage, waving his arms about.  

"Doctor?" a small voice asked. It was Caroline. The Doctor knelt again beside her, wanting so bad to help. It hurt him to know there was nothing that could be done.   

"I'm right here, Thomas." His brilliant Timelord mind was working as fast as it could, trying to find a solution. Trying so hard to save the little girl.   

"I burnt her up," she said simply.   

"It wasn't your fault. You must believe me. I told her not to touch you and she-"  

"But I did it. I felt her burn up. I felt her body burn. It was terrible, Doctor." Silent tears streamed from her eyes.   

"Oh, brilliant Thomas. I wish we could've known each other differently. You are such a nice kid. A smart one, too."  

"I'm going to burn up like my mum. I'm going to burn. I'm already burning. I can feel it. I don't want to burn, Doctor. I don't want to burn." Her voice was so unwavering. It unnerved the Doctor. His mind was made up.   

"I'm going to help you, Caroline Thomas. Did I tell you that was a brilliant name? Simply brilliant." The Doctor smiled at the dying girl, tears blurring his vision. "You are too young. Much too young to die."  

"Doctor, you mustn't help me. The universe needs you. That book told me everything. All about you, about Gallifrey, about the Time War."  

"What did you say?"  

"You are so brave, Doctor. You may not have been able to save them, but you keep living. That takes bravery. Living. That's more than I'm doing." A shudder passed through Caroline.  

"No, no, about the book. Did you say you read about all that?"  

"No. There aren't any words in it. I opened it and there was a light and it told me everything. All of Timelord history. What a race you were, Doctor." The Doctor scooted around Caroline's figure to the book. As soon as he touched it, he knew.  

"It's from the Great Library of Gallifrey. The library of the Time Lords. Before the Time War, the Bookkeepers bound all of our history in a single book. It was supposed to stay away hidden away across the universe, with the tree people. This book isn't a book at all." He lifted his face to Caroline's. "It's the essence of the Time Lords, not one particular Time Lord's soul, but a pieced together existence waiting for a body to keep the race alive. A patchwork soul. A backup system. And it transferred to you. It wasn't made for a human to find. It's killing you. I should have sought it out when the Time Lords were wiped out. I should have kept it from you. Another death and it's my fault." A tear fell from the lonely Time Lord's eye.  

Caroline caught it in her palm. She grinned, much wider this time.  

"I should be crying, not you, Doctor. You are such a great man."  

"No, no. No. YOU are a great girl. And hey?"  

"Yes, Doctor?"  

"Geronimo, Thomas," the Doctor whispered, manuevering to hover over Caroline's head. He placed his hands on either side of her head, covering her cheeks. The light brightened and began to pass from Caroline to the Doctor. His face crumpled, feeling the burning already. But it was weak still. He could tolerate it.   

Caroline's memories raced through his mind, all her days in school, talking with her friends, reading books. Lots of books. Wishing and dreaming about the things in those books.   

He tried to keep all his memories out of her head, but the burning was making it difficult. And she wanted to know. So he let some memories trickle through. Only the happy ones. The great ones.    Slowly moving one hand from Caroline's face, he placed it on the Gallifreian book. He hoped with all of his two hearts that his plan would work. He rarely ever had plans. Executing a plan was something fairly new to him. Usually the Doctor had things, like plans but with more greatness.   

The energy curled down his arm, lacing through his fingers, and disappeared into the black book. It wasn't transferring quite as quickly as he would've liked, but he had no idea how to speed up the process.  

The burning was growing. It was swelling in his chest, a searing and white hot pain. He felt his body succumbing to the inferno within him. But the light around Caroline was much dimmer now, so the corners of the Doctor's mouth turned up into a tight smile.  

"I'm sorry, Doctor." He barely heard what Caroline said. "I'm sorry you're burning. You shouldn't be. You should've let me burn. I'm sorry." Faintly glowing tears squeezed from her eyes.   

When the Doctor could stand the fire charring his innards and blackening his fingertips no longer and felt the last of his existence ebbing away, his hand fell from Caroline's face. He kept his other palm on the book though, to get all the energy out that he could.   

The upper half of his body toppled over in what seemed like slow motion, his cheek slamming against the wooden floor. His eyelids fluttered.   

"Doctor?" It was Caroline. She tried to pull him into a sitting position, but he was fading fast. His soul was tired and scarred. "I'll help you, Doctor, as you helped me. I promise," Caroline whispered in his ear. He was barely conscious as her hand found his coat pocket, retrieving the sonic screwdriver and the key to the TARDIS. For a moment, it crossed his mind that he was being robbed. Then her small figure was gone, leaving a cold spot on the side where she had been.   

His eyes closed for what he believed to be the last time. The Doctor thought of Sarah Jane and Rose, oh, Rose, and Martha and Donna and the Ponds and River.   

River Song, who was also Melody Pond. His wife, the woman with two names, who had killed him once, but loved him, too.   

He even racked his brain for memories of his earlier regenerations, when he looked older but was younger. He wanted to chuckle at that, but found he didn't have the strength to.  

A familiar sound rang in his ears and he firstly thought he was imagining it. Then a voice called out.   

"He's just there!" It was Caroline. Hurried footsteps echoed throught the shop. Someone knelt beside him. A hand rested on his head, brushing back his hair. Then a second voice. A whisper. One that made his two hearts leap.   

"Hello, sweetie."