Thorn Bush (Doctor Who Story)

Chapter 12: The End of Time Part One

A/N: Have plans for this one but it depends if I execute it well or not 😅

——

The TARDIS materialises in the snowy landscape of the Ood Sphere, and the Doctor and Kathy step out with the former wearing a Stetson and a lei and the latter wearing a Tudor dress. Ood Sigma is waiting for them.

Kathy had decided not to change as she knows that after this adventure and the Doctor regenerates, they meet Amy and Kathy remembers that little homemade doll.

"Ah! Now, sorry. There you are." The Doctor greets them casually though Kathy knows he's likely feeling the opposite. "So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me. Well, I didn't exactly come straight here. Had a bit of fun, you know. Travelled about, did this and that, Kathy joined in at one point. Got into trouble. You know me. It was brilliant. I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt, saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison. Got married. That was a mistake. Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer."

"Uuugghh," Kathy grumbles, screwing up her face.

"Ahem. Anyway, what do you want?" The Doctor quickly asks.

"You should not have delayed." Ood Sigma replies.

"The last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon, and I'm in no hurry for that." The Doctor argues.

"You will come with me," Sigma instructs.

"Hold on. Better lock the TARDIS." The Doctor points a remote key at the TARDIS. The door locks and the light flashes at it beeps. Kathy snorts. "See? Like a car. I locked it like a car. Like. It's funny. Kathy laughed. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh. Met an Ood yet Kathy?"

Kathy shakes her head. "Nope."

"Well, now you have." They walk along. "So how old are you now, Ood Sigma? Ah." Kathy and the Doctor see the Ood city. Kathy gazes at its beauty.

"Magnificent. Oh, come on, that is splendid." The Doctor compliments. "You've achieved all this in how long?"

"One hundred years."

The Doctor looks worried. "Then we've got a problem. Because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way back to the twenty first century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal."

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled," Sigma explains.

"Why, what's happened?"

"Every night, Doctor, Kathy, every night we have bad dreams."

"Well, we can't have that," Kathy says.

——

The Ood Council sit in a circle in an ice cave. Kathy and the Doctor quietly enter as the Elder, one where the brain on the top of his head is exposed, talks, "Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood. Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. They have come."

"Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming," Sigma instructs.

"So, right. Hallo." The Doctor awkwardly greets them as he and Kathy take their seats.

"Uh, yes, hello," Kathy adds, not wanting to be rude to a new species.

"You will join. You will join." All the Ood repeat. "You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join." The Doctor and Kathy link hands with the Ood and see the Master laughing.