The road less travelled...

Title: Redemption 30/?
Author: katherine_b
Rating: PG
Summary: When you have lost everything, what do you do to get it back?
Characters: The non-Doctor first glimpsed at the end of Name of the Doctor and a lot of old friends.

Part XXX

Gallifrey is getting nearer.

He can feel it looming, along with the presence of hundreds of thousands of those who were, until recently, safely shut away inside the Time Lock.

When he closes his eyes, his head resting against the cold concrete floor, he’s back in his nightmares again, surrounded by Hordes of Travesties, fighting the Skaro Degredations, dodging Daleks and running from the Nightmare Child. Luke once asked why he didn’t sleep. How could he, with this waiting for him as soon as he let down his guard?

The Choice. The Moment.

That is what still hurts. The instant when he discovered what was in store for all of those who were left: the suicidal and murderous decision to strip everyone of their physical beings and ascend to a higher realm. That was when he knew that the only way to save the lives of all those caught up in this catastrophe was to use the Time Lock.

It was the result of that decision that caused the Doctor to strip him of his name and condemn him. It is from that moment in the past that the Vadlott has been fleeing ever since.

But now, faced with everything that made him do it in the first place, he no longer feels as if it is something of which he should be ashamed. Now that he is going to die, perhaps he should rank it among his finest moments instead.

“Vadlott!”

The word is a cry of horror, and the Time Lord’s eyes spring open to see Luke, gloriously himself again, peering anxiously through the slot in the door.

“Get me out of here,” the Vadlott begs, his voice hoarse from all the dust he has been breathing in while lying on the floor.

The bolts clank and bang wildly as Luke throws them back, and in the distance the Vadlott can hear screams and cries of panic as people, having reverted back to themselves, flee for their lives. Then Luke is inside the cell and on his knees beside the Vadlott.

“Where’s your sonic?” he demands.

“There.” The Vadlott nods at the pile of smashed electronics. “Useless. The Master destroyed it. Just – help me up. Gently!”

It takes a few moments of cautious movement before the Vadlott is sitting with his back against the bench from which the Master threw him. His injuries are agonising – even his face throbs where the Master struck him – but he ignores them and focuses on the problem of the manacles binding his feet and hands. Here, though, he finds that Luke has beaten him to it. He is fishing in his pocket and, after a moment, pulls out a key, which he stares at in a mixture of horror and shame.

“Luke.” The Vadlott understands. “Listen to me. That wasn’t you. You aren’t responsible for what you did to me when you were the Master. I certainly don’t blame you. You had no way of resisting.”

Unable to meet the Time Lord’s gaze, Luke busies himself undoing the chains binding the Vadlott’s feet. The Vadlott cannot see him when he moves to release his hands, but he can feel the moment when the chains drop off. He is unable to suppress a moan of pain as his hands are freed and the dislocated shoulder moves, the bones grinding against one another, and this brings Luke’s eyes back to his face.

The Vadlott pulls his arm against his side and then yanks off his cravat, gesturing at Luke with his eyes to move away as he shoves it into his mouth. Then he swings his arm in a wide arc to force the joint back into place, his scream of pain muffled by the fabric on which he then bites with all of his force.

Thankfully it slides home with a nauseating click and the Vadlott swallows hard before pulling the cravat free. It is just the right length for him to use it as a makeshift sling and Luke gives him a hand in tying the knot behind his neck.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll live.” The Vadlott makes use of Luke’s hand to get to his feet and then looks down into his companion’s face. “Are you?”

“I guess.” Luke gives an awkward shrug, and the pain is clear in his eyes. It is clear that it will take time for him to recover from what happened to him and what he did while he was the Master. But he continues to look at the Vadlott. “What happens now?”

“We leave,” the Time Lord says grimly.

“But,” Luke’s inward pain begins to abate as curiosity takes over, “aren’t these your people? The Time Lords? And Gallifrey is your home.”

“They’re the Doctor’s people.” The Vadlott glances out of the window where the sky is turning red as the massive planet approaches, his tones filled with bitterness. “But they won’t want me. Actually, they won’t want him, either, but they definitely won’t want me.”

“Why?”

“I’m a temporal anomaly.” Just in time, the Vadlott remembers not to shrug. “I shouldn’t exist. I was born out of a mistake in time and space. And then,” he adds, “there’s the fact that I was the one who ended the War and put the Lock into place. So they really aren’t going to be happy to see me.”

“What does that mean though?” Luke’s thirst for knowledge is as prevalent as ever. “What will they do to you?”

“I don’t know what means they will use,” the Vadlott admits. “The Resurrection Gauntlet, perhaps, or dispersal, like last time. Or they might just shoot me until I have no more lives left. Hanging. Drowning. Oh, there’s all sorts of ways!”

“But – that would kill you!” Only now does the Vadlott realise what Luke was really asking, and he mentally kicks himself for his flippant response.

“Yes,” he is forced to admit. “They will.”

“Just for doing what you thought you had to?”

“Luke,” the Vadlott places his free hand on his companion’s shoulder, “these are not good men. They are not sane men! They make the Master look angelic. For all I know, they are the reason behind the Master’s madness in the first place! And I can’t stop them because they will kill me before I get the chance. Maybe the Doctor can, but I can’t. That’s why we have to leave. Now!”

“No!” Luke takes a step back, towards the door. “No,” he repeats. “I’m not coming with you.”

The Vadlott frowns a little. “Why not?”

Luke’s expression clearly shows his distress. “Because,” he says slowly, “if everything you’ve said is right, those people are going to take charge of this planet. And you can’t help us, I understand that, but maybe I can. Maybe I can come up with something that will help the human race to defeat them. You’ve taught me so much,” he adds, his eyes filling with tears, “and maybe it’s time I put that into practice.”

Pride fills the Vadlott, easing the pain at fact that he is about to lose his companion. “And if the Doctor manages to defeat them?” he proposes, still hoping to change Luke’s mind, even though he doubts it will be possible. Luke Rattigan’s middle name might as well be ‘stubborn.’

Indeed, from the set of his jaw, Luke has no intention of changing his mind. “Then people like the Mr Copper Foundation or Sarah Jane Smith will need to have a way to explain to people what happened to them when they turned into the Master, and I can help with that.”

For a moment the Vadlott simply gazes at Luke, remembering the young, arrogant boy who had first appeared on the tardis and comparing it to the man facing him now. Then he holds out his good arm and Luke runs to the Time Lord, throwing his arms around him, and fighting to hold back tears.

“I’m proud of you, Luke Rattigan,” he whispers. “So very proud. Go and save the world.”

“Come back when you can,” Luke begs in shaky tones. “Come back and check on us – me!”

Then, without waiting for the Vadlott’s response, he tears himself away and takes off running down out of the room and down the hallway, his sobs echoing back to where the Time Lord is still standing.

The Vadlott considers changing his mind, going after him, and to hell with the consequences, but he knows the consequences would be hell for him, and that Luke would also be likely to suffer. As it is, by leaving now, Luke can hide himself among the other humans and do what he can from that place of relative safety, while, if the Vadlott tried the same thing, he would stand out on Rassilon’s radar like the proverbial sore thumb.

He sighs, which sets his ribs aching all over again, and reaches into his pocket for the remote recall on the tardis. Fortunately he kept that separate from the sonic screwdriver so he will not be stranded here. Pressing the button, he is relieved to hear the sounds of the materialisation sequence and to see the outline of the blue box on the other side of the cell.

As it solidifies, the Vadlot nudges the small heap of what was once his screwdriver with his foot, wondering whether to collect the shrapnel and take it with him, or to leave it behind. In the end, he decides it would take too long to pick up every tiny bit and decides to leave it there. Instead he moves towards the tardis, struggling a little with the key as it is his main arm that has been injured and it is awkward to get his key out with his other hand. Finally, though, he manages it, and several moments later he is safely inside his beloved blue box, having sent it into the vortex.

Trying to forget that he is alone, he goes to the medical bay to have his injuries treated. With the correct treatment, the bones knit rapidly and the inflammation is quick to subside so that soon only the odd ache and pain exist to remind him of what took place at the Master’s hands.

The Vadlott is positive that the Master would never have treated the Doctor like that.

Returning to the console room, he considers taking off for some far-flung corner of the universe, but he cannot bear not to know the fate of the Earth. In the end, he returns to that region, but rather than bring the tardis in to land, he hovers several miles away so that he can still easily see what is happening without being in danger.

The great mass of Gallifrey hovers menacingly over the Earth, casting a long shadow that seems to stretch on forever into the dark infinity of space. As he leans against the open door of his tardis, the Vadlott considers what the Time Lords might do if unleashed onto the small, all but defenceless place he considers a second home.

He wonders how Luke is doing, before suddenly crossing to the console and using the tardis to erase all mentions of the young man’s death, as well as resurrecting his bank accounts so that he can afford to fulfil as many of his grand plans as possible. The Vadlott also sends Sarah Jane a message via Mr Smith so that she can help Luke to re-establish himself.

Then he returns to the doors to watch.

But even in that time, something has changed. The pressure of voices and minds within his is lessening, dying away, in a reversal of what took place in his mind in the Naismith cell. As he gazes at Gallifrey in all of its glowing orange majesty, it flickers and begins to fade.

He can guess what is happening. The Time Lock has been reactivated, and Rassilon and everyone else are being dragged back inside.

Unless he can find a way to avoid it, that will even include the Doctor.

Despite that, the Vadlott still can’t bring himself to go down there. Remembering Shan Shen, and knowing that the Doctor would be even more angry and emotional than he was on that occasion, he has no desire to find himself in a similar situation now. And right now, the Vadlott is emotional enough on his own at the loss of Luke, and he would like some peace and quiet to get over it.

Instead he fixes his eyes on his home planet for the final few seconds before it fades away entirely and then he closes the doors and walks back to the console. For a moment he looks down at the little blue-green planet he can see on the screen, now sailing serenely all alone in its patch of space, with no hint of the turmoil it has suffered.

“Well done, Doctor,” he says gravely, before sending his tardis off into the vortex.

‘How good of you to invite me here.’