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wintercompanion2008-04-29 04:24 pm
sarkywoman.livejournal.com) wrote in wintercompanion2008-04-29 04:24 pm
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sarkywoman: Overlords and Time Gods 4/5 (Jack/10) [NC-17]
Title: Overlords and Time Gods 4/5
Author:sarkywoman
Challenge: Power
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Last of the Time Lords'. AU after that.
Warnings: It's quite dark, contains dubious-consent (drug-use), slightly dodgy use of slightly underage slaves. Insanity. Character death. Bad poetry.
Summary: The Doctor returns to Earth after a long absence to find power has corrupted a once-noble friend.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
“Doctor?” Warm hands on his shoulder, on his face. “Doctor, love, you have to wake up now, you have to come back to me.”
He twisted away from the voice, so commanding and possessive. But still it did not relent.
“Come on my angel, you can't stay. I'm sorry, but you can't. I need you. You can come back later, I swear. Right now you need to wake up.”
Did he? Did he have to go back to that dark world of dangerous decisions?
Then he recalled the decision he had made. He was the only one with the power to make things...well, not right, but better. Hopefully.
When the Doctor opened his eyes, Jack was gazing down at him with grave concern. His face lit up when the Doctor focused on him and the Time Lord found himself thoroughly kissed. When he was released from Jack's insistent lips, he pushed himself into a sitting position, trying not to look too ruffled. He had been covered with a light silken blanket, underneath which he seemed to be naked. “You dealt with your business then?”
“Hours ago,” Jack said with a chuckle. “I told you it wouldn't take long.”
“I wasn't lying here for hours!” the Doctor said with confusion.
“Uh...yeah, you were. So much for the time awareness of the Time Lords.”
“But...” the Doctor trailed off as he felt the flow of time in the atmosphere around them. Jack was telling the truth, hours had passed. He could feel them now. It was an unnerving sensation, recognising lost time. “I just closed my eyes for a second.”
“You drifted off,” Jack said with a shrug. “It happens. Like I said, it's addictive. If you reach out to it, it'll surround you in dreams. You looked so peaceful I didn't have the heart to wake you at first, but you were starting to suffocate...”
“What?!?”
“You weren't breathing enough,” Jack explained simply. “You were taking really deep breaths, but too slowly to actually get the air you need.”
“My respiratory bypass would have kept me going for a while,” the Doctor said petulantly, eager to remind Jack which of them was the superior biologically.
“It did, I think.” Jack brushed his hand against the Doctor's cheekbone. “I was worried, so I woke you.”
Another thought occurred to the Doctor. “Were you just sitting there for hours while I was...entranced?”
“Pretty much,” Jack said, nodding. “I double-checked the military advancement for the day and prepped the night troops. Sent an agent with the nanogenes to cure the girl with Blood Fever. Played with Drakton a while...you know his hair is almost as soft as yours? It's why I like him, to be honest. With the right tools, that mop of hair can look so wild I can almost imagine it's you I'm tugging down onto my cock.” He stared off into the middle distance for a few moments, ignorant yet again to the Doctor's shock and horror. “Then I came back to check on you, stayed a while. Then I collected the gifts sent for you from the people. There's normally quite a few but since you descended from on high, there's been a veritable windfall. People are practically donating their limbs or their first-born, or their first-born's limbs!”
“But I don't want...” began the Doctor.
“I know, I know. I didn't ask them for this, they give you things out of love.” Jack smiled softly, almost coy. “I can understand that.” He tapped on his wrist communicator and spoke into it. “Reyma my dear, could you bring in the sacred gifts for our God to examine?” The Doctor still got an unpleasant twist in his stomach whenever he was referred to as a god. To him, being the 'Lonely God' was synonymous with being the 'Oncoming Storm'. Gods destroyed, played games with inferior lives until their toys broke. The Master had called him godlike for his act of destruction that ended the Time War. Gods never made peace. How could they when their own minds and morals warred with power?
There was a very light tap at the door. Jack pressed a button on his wrist device and the door swished open. The Doctor made a mental note of which button had been pressed.
Reyma made slow progress into the room, struggling to tug along a hover platform weighed down with a tremendous pile of assorted gifts. On the other side of the dipping platform, Drakton struggled to push the hover along and keep it in the air.
“If that scratches the floor, you're both dead,” Jack warned in a foreboding tone. “I had these tiles imported from the Imperial Data-palace of the Hziak.”
“Well maybe you should get off your arse and help them then!” The Doctor cried out. The fear on Drakton and Reyma's young faces was fraying his last nerve.
The two young servants froze in place when they heard the Doctor speak, no longer trying to move the hover platform but struggling to hold it up with their lean arms. Of course they had never known anyone speak to the Overlord like that and live. And it had been an extraordinarily stupid move too, not at all thought through, because Jack could punish him right here and now. The only witnesses of his heresy would be Drakton and Reyma and he clearly had no qualms about punishing them. The Doctor's word could bring more suffering down on all of them.
But Jack stood up from the bed. “Certainly, your Holiness.” He bowed his head reverently then went to assist the two stunned servants with their heavy load. He could almost lift the entire thing on his own. The Doctor didn't know exactly what Jack had been doing over the past couple thousand years, but it had made him almost superhumanly strong. The champion of humanity indeed.
Once the imposing tower of presents was by the end of the bed, Reyma walked over and knelt beside the bed, handing the Doctor a collection of papers tied together with ribbon. “Letters of prayer from the people and more pictures from the children, my Lord.”
“Thank you, Reyma,” the Doctor said, smiling down at the girl. She beamed in response.
“You can both depart now,” Jack said loudly. “Avert your eyes as you go. Only I may see his glory when he is unprepared for company.”
The two servants scurried from the room. “I meant to ask,” the Doctor said as he and Jack were left alone once more. “Why exactly did you undress me?”
“I wanted to draw you,” Jack answered as he examined various trinkets that had been left for the Doctor. “You looked so gorgeous, so innocent and unaware. I mean I'm no artist, but I have some amazing colour flames from the Holy Realm of Priona. They improve my scrawl a little.”
“You didn't touch me then?” He had to ask. He couldn't believe it had reached a point where he actually had to ask.
“Of course not,” Jack replied, actually looking a little offended. “You were happy. You didn't need me to make you feel good, not with the trans-temporal-spatial scryer doing the job.” He gestured to the wad of paper in the Doctor's hand. “Anything good? There's been some amazing poetry written for you, I bet there's a verse or two in that lot.”
The Doctor untied the ribbon and began leafing through the papers while Jack continued picking through an assortment of jewellery, hand-made idols, money, treasured possessions and whatever else the citizens of Earth had to spare to show their devotion to their God.
The poem was the fourth page in the stack of paper. It was highly complimentary of the Doctor, but the Time Lord doubted it was what Jack had in mind. It was called 'The Day of Freedom', and it was written in archaic style.
Today our army marches forth
As our overlord planned
And on this day our one true God
Descends upon our land.
The battle for humanity
Will not be fought in space
On Earth we'll see the victory
The true strength of our race.
Oh joyous day of Saviour true
He spreads the truthful word
We spread his message to those who
Have seen but not yet heard.
Our overlord tonight shall die
False prophet of our Saviour
At midnight raise the battle cry,
'Our lives for love of the Doctor!'
It took barely any time at all for the Doctor to read the rest of the collected writings and drawings. Every single one (even the children's drawings) contained a reference to midnight and a hint of rebellion. A revolution was starting tonight in his honour. How many would die because of his message?
“Oh, that reminds me,” Jack said suddenly. “I haven't brought you your gift. I said I'd get you something and I did.” He had a very proud grin on his face. “Back in a bit, don't go anywhere.” The Doctor wasn't sure whether that was a joke or not.
When he was alone in the room once more, the Doctor wrapped himself in the thin blanket and wandered over to the window to look out over the darkness of the New Human Empire. The sun never shone here, but he didn't need that to tell that it was close to midnight. Yet another benefit of being a Time Lord, you're always punctual in regards to impending doom.
There was a fire burning on the horizon.
The door slid open and the Doctor pulled the blinds across the window. The last thing he wanted was Jack seeing potential trouble out there and deciding to intervene. He turned to the happy Overlord, who dropped to one knee and offered him...a flower. But on close inspection, the bright hue of the petals and the unique stem shape proved this to be no ordinary flower.
“That's a Xaan Royal Bloom,” the Doctor said with shock. “One grows on the desert side of the planet Xaan every ten years. One, Jack. Every ten years!”
“I'm aware of that,” Jack said with a pleased smile. “I intend to collect the solo plant every ten years for you. It took a bit of a desert trek, which is why my mission took the full hour instead of the uh...five minutes it should have done.” He pushed it up at the Doctor. “You can take it, you know. It's yours.”
Carefully the Doctor took the Royal Bloom. Its petals varied in colour from red to violet to orange. The stem twisted in beautiful patterns like a Celtic knot. In all his travels, the Doctor had never seen a real one. He had gone searching for one once, but he'd been caught up in some nasty political business in the capital city and he'd never remembered to resume the search. “It's beautiful, Jack.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” said the Overlord predictably.
It was nearing midnight. Now was not the time for the Doctor to have doubts. Unfortunately, this was the time his treacherous hearts had chosen to torment him. The gist of their argument was that Jack adored him, truly and completely, if not a little scarily. Jack wanted him to be happy, relaxed and revered as a god. Why should he always assume that whatever was good for him was bad for everyone else? Maybe he could use his power as 'god' and his power over Jack to fix the system and calm the insanity.
But it was not his hearts that made his decisions, it was his mind. And the Doctor's mind had a lot of very good reasons that this should end tonight. Oh it was tempting to relinquish control to someone who loved him, to spend his days in chemical hedonism or psychic fantasy, but Jack could not be trusted in any way anymore. The man was completely insane. Yes, tonight there were gifts of Xaan Royal Blooms, but tomorrow there could be violence and death. The man's possessive streak was already clear as the day that never came to this Earth anymore.
Even that wasn't the final decision-maker. The logic to vanquish temptation was simple Time Lord insight. He could see the timelines. Jack was making a terrible mess. His timeless, unnatural presence was slicing through the threads of time like a knife, severing cause from effect and disconnecting the past from the present. When the shockwaves of his actions hit the Boeshane Peninsula in the fifty-first century, Jack Harkness or whatever he was called then would not be born. And if Jack wasn't born...well, that's where Paradox started to implode the Universe. Any other person might not have been quite so disastrous a change, but Jack was a Fact, Jack was permanent. The Universe would not be able to purge him to clear the way for the rightful order of events. He was, as he had been since the Gamestation, an aberration. And the Doctor had to do what he should have done as soon as Jack woke from death-by-Dalek.
But it was Jack, who loved him so very much. The blame for the Captain's fate could not rest entirely on his shoulders. The Doctor's neglect had played a part and it seemed unfair that Jack should be the only one to suffer.
He could only think of one way to make up even half of an apology.
“Thank you so much for this, Jack,” he said, gently placing the flower on the bedside table. “It's a beautiful gift. I feel I should give you something in return.”
“You owe me nothing,” Jack said with a smile as he got up from his knees. This man was very different from the angry Captain that had demanded answers all those years ago.
“Still,” the Doctor murmured, walking over to the Overlord with a slight sway of his hips, “there must be something you want from me.”
Jack's breath quickened and his gaze swept over the Doctor. The Time Lord was very aware that there was only a thin layer of fabric shielding his naked body from Jack's eyes. The Overlord took a step closer, then stopped himself. “Why are you offering... What are you offering?”
The Doctor closed the gap between them, one of his hands sliding up over Jack's shoulders while the other clutched the blanket to his body. “You know what I'm offering.”
“But I thought you didn't want me touching you?” Jack said, his strong body actually trembling from the Doctor's behaviour. “You said it was rape and... Doctor, I'm confused.”
It was sad, how the slightest hint of requited affection from the Doctor could reduce Jack to a powerless wreck. The Doctor leant in closer so that his body was pressing lightly against the Overlord. “I also said I would stay. If I'm going to stick around, I should try to enter into the spirit of the age. You wanted to worship me, yeah?”
Jack swallowed. “Yeah...”
Now was the time then. The Doctor stepped back and pushed the blanket from his shoulders, the material brushing deliciously against his skin on its way to the floor. “So do it.”
For a while, Jack said nothing. He just stared into the Doctor's eyes as though he expected the Time Lord to change his mind. Eventually though, he seemed to realise that this was actually happening and he reached carefully around the Doctor's body, pulling the man up against him.
“I don't know what to say,” he whispered shakily.
“Say nothing,” the Doctor instructed him. It would be easier that way. “Just make love to me. I want you to have me.”
Jack nodded slowly, then kissed him. It was a tentative and gentle kiss, devoid of the passion and possessiveness the Doctor had associated with the Overlord so far. The simple fact that the Doctor was willing to do this seemed to have robbed Jack of his need to dominate and possess. He knew the Doctor wasn't going anywhere so he didn't have to drug him or hold him down. He could guide him to the bed with all the sweetness of a first-time lover. When the Doctor lay down on the soft underblanket Jack kissed him all over, slowly working his way from the soles of the Doctor's feet up to the Time Lord's collarbone.
Once he was level with the Doctor's face, there was a long moment where they stared into one another's eyes. “If you don't want this...” Jack began.
“You'll drug me?” the Doctor asked coolly. This was exactly why he'd asked Jack to be silent. This intimacy was too poignant for questions and arguments and upsetting information.
“I just want you to be happy,” Jack said seriously. “My feelings aren't worth a damn. I don't want you doing this to please me.”
The Doctor ran his fingers up the Overlord's spine. “Jack, I know you can make me feel good. Make me feel complete.” He pressed his lips to Jack's and sought the man's tongue with his own. Jack's response was delayed, but passionate. When he broke from the kiss, the Doctor gazed up into Jack's blue eyes and played his winning card. “I want you,” he murmured breathlessly.
He'd never seen a human undress so fast. Jack's clothes were thrown across the room as the immortal rushed to equal the Doctor in nudity. The Overlord knelt by the Doctor's legs for a moment, just looking at him. “So many fantasies... I don't know where to begin.”
“You did last night,” the Doctor said.
“That was different,” Jack replied. “Last night was good. This needs to be perfect.”
It was midnight and already the Doctor could feel the rumble of the Earth as the revolution began. He reached his arms up towards Jack. “It will be perfect. All I need for perfection is you.”
Jack's eyes misted with tears. “You mean that?”
“Yes,” the Doctor lied.
Jack crawled over and kissed him deeply. Lovingly. The Doctor wrapped his arms around the brawny man and felt tentative touches on his cock as Jack gently coaxed his body into a sensual arousal. Such a careful, gentle touch it was hard to believe that this man was a tyrant, that power had driven him mad. Jack's blue eyes held deep concentration and affection as he bestowed teasing touches and slow kisses on the body being offered up to him.
It wasn’t easy to allow this touch, to allow this sensation. He had to will his body into relaxation and consciously lean into Jack's touch. It became easier as Jack caressed and licked and made it feel worth his while. It started to feel good, almost semi-natural, like he’d done this out of lust.
The Doctor was starting to pant with pleasure. Shockwaves of sensation were running through him from his head to his toes. Then Jack did something with his fingers and a moan erupted from the Doctor's throat, completely of its own volition.
Jack was murmuring sweet nothings in the Doctor’s ear and his warm hands were everywhere, rubbing, squeezing, stroking… It was so different to be doing this with a clear mind. A real shock to his frigid system. The Doctor was almost at the brink before remembering why he was doing this wonderful, wonderful thing.
He grabbed Jack’s upper arms, digging his fingers into the firm muscles there. “Jack, wait, wait…” Before the immortal could get the wrong idea, he continued, “I want you. I want you inside me when I come. Please.” The words tasted strange on his tongue, but Jack seemed thrilled by them. After kissing the Doctor again, Jack reached to the bedside table (a Japanese antique) and picked up some lotion.
The Doctor took the lotion and pushed himself upright, forcing Jack to move back. “Lay down,” he said, satisfied when Jack eagerly obeyed. The Doctor wanted to submit, he didn’t want Jack to take control. He wanted to be in charge, to show the Overlord that his Doctor had chosen to relinquish power to him in this bed.
This wasn’t an area of expertise for the Time Lord, but tentative exploration with the lotion along Jack’s hot flesh enlightened him to what the immortal enjoyed. The Doctor was straddling the man’s thighs while Jack shifted pleasantly underneath him. Every so often their erections slid together and the Doctor found his leg muscles tensing, driving him forward to rub wantonly against Jack’s slick cock.
The lotion was taken from his hand and the Doctor opened his eyes. He didn’t even realise he’d closed them. Jack was slicking up his fingers and reaching down…
The Doctor whimpered as a finger pushed slowly inside him, pressing at him in amazing ways. He tried to relax so that Jack could hurry, but the immortal seemed perfectly content to take his time with one finger twisting slowly and flexing inside the Doctor’s arse. “Jack…please…”
“Sssh. I’m getting you all ready. Nice and easy,” Jack murmured in a low and soothing voice. “This stuff makes it easier, it’s not just lube. It…” he gasped as the Doctor clenched around his finger. “It makes you accommodate more. No pain. I never want any pain for you.”
The Doctor felt flushed all over as Jack massaged inside him. So hot he was burning. His body was as hot as Jack’s. They were burning up together. He gripped Jack’s wrist and looked the man in the eye. That icy blue gaze focused the Doctor on his goal like nothing else. “Please…” he gasped.
Jack withdrew his finger and rested his hands on the Doctor’s hips. The Time Lord let himself be guided down onto the man’s hard, hot cock. It pushed inside him as though it belonged there. Whatever Jack had slicked him with, it had done a superb job. The only strain was on Jack, who was holding back, being slow and gentle, even though he had to bite his lip until it bled to keep his restraint.
Once he was fully down on Jack’s erection, the Doctor tried to breathe deeply. His body was tingling all over, waves of pleasure rippling through him from his core. “That lotion…it…what is it?”
“Sensitises you,” Jack said breathlessly as he cupped the Doctor’s balls in one hand. “It’s not a drug, I swear,” he assured the Doctor. “Just…just tingly stuff.” The Overlord was panting now, his strong chest heaving as the Doctor shifted on his cock.
The Doctor leaned back slightly, moaning softly at the pleasant sensation of Jack filling him, throbbing inside him. When he looked down, he saw Jack’s eyes were full of awe. The immortal held the Doctor in place with a hand on the small of his back and the other hand played with the Time Lord’s hard member. “I can’t believe…”
“Ssh,” the Doctor cut him off, leaning down to interrupt Jack with a kiss. He started to lift himself along the slick erection buried inside him, then sank back down. Then up again. The dual sensation of the cock in his arse and Jack’s playful hands on his hardness were bringing the Doctor to the edge already. He wasn’t exactly used to this, after all.
“So beautiful,” Jack whispered. “My Doctor, God of Time.”
The Doctor slid his hands up so that each palm covered a nipple, his right hand virtually above Jack’s heart. “I am yours,” he whispered, staring into Jack’s eyes.
Jack came with a cry, his hips thrusting up into the Doctor. As the Overlord shook with release, the Doctor closed his eyes and sought that unique energy within Jack’s body. He found it…and he called it to his hands. He was the last of the Time Lords and that Vortex energy belonged to him. It rushed through Jack’s skin, drawn to its master’s fingertips. It might have glowed golden as it suffused the Doctor’s being, but neither man had their eyes open to see if that was the case.
The energy thrummed briefly through the Doctor’s veins, heightening the pleasure coursing through his slender frame. He couldn’t hold on any longer and his climax erupted from him with a sudden violence that left flashes of light in his vision.
Limbs shaking with exhaustion, the Doctor raised himself from Jack’s softening cock and collapsed at the man’s side. He turned away, facing the antique table, and breathed the golden energy from his lips. This wasn’t the raw power he had taken from Rose over a lifetime ago, this was life from the vortex. It swirled against the carpet as he watched. It had no purpose now, Jack was mortal once more.
“What now?” Jack asked against the back of the Doctor’s neck.
“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked innocently, though he was wondering the same thing himself. Jack could die now, but should the Doctor take it upon himself to do the deed? Could he take that responsibility?
“Well, I was wondering how far this was going to go. When Delilah cut Samson’s hair, she left it to the Philistines to burn his eyes out with hot pokers. She didn’t kill him, just made him weak and human. So I was wondering how much of a Delilah you are. Whether you’re going to leave me to their mercy or if you have enough respect left to kill me yourself.”
The Doctor turned over so that he lay facing Jack. “You know?”
Jack laughed. “I told you, I remember you. If you disapprove of something, it disappears. Weapons factories become banana groves. Governments crumble, organisations collapse. The Oncoming Storm, burning everything so beautifully. I’m flattered you pretended to accept this.”
“I…”
“And the rebellion is inspired,” Jack continued, still smiling. “Those people are fighting me out of love for you. I unified them under your banner and you’re using that! It’s amazing. You were with the Preacher for what, ten minutes? And in that time you set in motion such a large-scale revolution. You never cease to amaze me.”
“But you knew what I was doing?” the Doctor asked, still dumbfounded. “You knew and you did nothing?”
“Who am I to doubt your plans?” Jack said with a shrug. His gaze was on the ceiling, the trans-temporal-spatial scryer now showing the chaos outside. Guards were trying to prevent the masses from getting into the palace, but they were vastly outnumbered. “When the troops return, they’ll find a new order in place. And they’re just as predisposed to listen to your word as the rest of humanity. I trained them all well for you. Oh, and the pass-code to the shrine is based on the date we met. You can use the vortex manipulator to override the voice recognition.”
“But did you know what I was doing here?” asked the Doctor, nodding to their naked bodies. They both seemed intent to ignore the sounds of gunfire and screaming getting closer.
Jack nodded. “Oh yeah. But I’d die to touch you any day.” He sighed and looked back at the Doctor, his expression of ease and relaxation completely out of place under the circumstances. “So what’s it to be? You running off in the TARDIS to let the discontented masses burn me at the stake? Or can I tempt you to do me one last favour?”
“You want me to kill you?” This was not turning out at all like the Doctor had suspected. He had meant to be the strong one, taking the power of immortality from Jack’s body and the power of leadership from Jack’s hands. Jack was not supposed to still be making the decisions.
Jack took the Doctor’s hands in his. “I know I’ve disappointed you in so many ways. I know I don’t deserve to ask this of you. So I beg. Please Doctor, it would be an honour to die at your hands. This night has been the best of my long life and if it must end here, I want it to end with you. I want your face to be the last thing I see. Please.”
The Doctor turned away from Jack’s pleading eyes. He held himself responsible for so much death. He was the bringer of tragedy and it haunted him every quiet moment, every lonely moment. The reason he was alone was because he had destroyed everyone else and the few that remained were too clever to get near him and have their lives ruined. But to take a weapon in his hands…or worse, to use these hands as a weapon…the blood would never scrub off.
“Doctor, please…”
He shook his head. “I can’t…Jack, I can’t…”
Footsteps thundered around the building, getting louder as the mob moved closer. “At least people don’t use pitchforks anymore,” Jack said casually. “Wouldn’t want one of them in the eye.”
“For god’s sake Jack…” How could the man be so relaxed? Had he lost his mind so completely?
“What? I’ve lived a fun life. I don’t regret anything leading me to this point. Although…” For a moment, Jack’s eyes stared into the Doctor’s with a clarity that had been missing thus far, “…it might have been nice if I’d made you proud. If I’d built an Empire you wanted to rule with me.”
“You couldn’t,” said the Doctor. “We should never rule. We have too much power as it is.”
A loud bang on the door made them both jump and Jack instinctively pulled the Doctor back across the bed so that the Overlord was closest to the door.
“Overlord Harkness! We demand you surrender to the noble followers of the Doctor! Your heresy will rule us no longer!”
Jack looked imploringly at the Doctor. “Are they to be my judges and executioners?”
The Doctor hesitated as the door was thumped louder and harder. Ordinarily his mind would have been running at ridiculous speeds as he thought out his options, but at that moment he was frozen and his mind was blank. This was a situation of his own making in every way and he could see no way out.
The door was beginning to shake under the fists of the angry citizens. Amidst their yells the Doctor heard a familiar female voice – Reyma. “You cannot enter! That room belongs to the Doctor! He is currently speaking with the Overlord!”
“Back, whore of Harkness!”
There was a gunshot and Reyma spoke no more. The Doctor sank back into Jack’s arms. “Oh Rassilon, what have I done?”
“What you had to,” Jack said softly in his ear. “You always do. And you take the costs on your back as a personal burden, even when they break you.” A deep sigh ruffled the Doctor’s hair. “Have I told you I love you, Doctor?”
The Doctor pulled away from Jack’s arms and stood from the bed. He walked over to Jack’s discarded coat and checked inside while the Overlord watched him silently. Hidden pockets awarded him with various gadgets and communicators and…ah. A knife. That would do. He held it up for Jack’s appraisal. The ex-immortal took a deep breath and lay back on the bed.
Outside the door there were increasingly strange mechanical noises. The locking mechanisms were being dealt with. They didn’t have much time. It still felt like everything was happening in slow-motion as the Doctor approached Jack’s vulnerable body and straddled his hips as a morbid tribute to their previous intimacy. He held the knife in both hands and pressed the point of the blade gently against the skin covering Jack’s ancient heart.
He was about to say again that he couldn’t do this, but realised before he opened his mouth that this had gone too far now. To doubt himself now would be ridiculous. This had to be done and he was going to do it. He had started this, it was his duty to finish it.
Without further procrastination, the Doctor slammed the blade down through Jack’s chest. Jack let out a sharp sound of agony before clenching his teeth in an attempt to fight the pain. He reached up one trembling arm to the Doctor, who immediately let go of the knife with one hand to press Jack’s warm palm to his face. Jack’s gaze never flickered from the Doctor’s face, his blue eyes drinking in every millimetre of his God’s appearance until they glazed over with the emptiness of death.
The Doctor sat naked, too grieved to cry, one hand on Jack’s hand and one hand on the weapon that killed him. He remained motionless in that position until his ‘followers’ broke down the bedroom door.
Author:
sarkywomanChallenge: Power
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Last of the Time Lords'. AU after that.
Warnings: It's quite dark, contains dubious-consent (drug-use), slightly dodgy use of slightly underage slaves. Insanity. Character death. Bad poetry.
Summary: The Doctor returns to Earth after a long absence to find power has corrupted a once-noble friend.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
“Doctor?” Warm hands on his shoulder, on his face. “Doctor, love, you have to wake up now, you have to come back to me.”
He twisted away from the voice, so commanding and possessive. But still it did not relent.
“Come on my angel, you can't stay. I'm sorry, but you can't. I need you. You can come back later, I swear. Right now you need to wake up.”
Did he? Did he have to go back to that dark world of dangerous decisions?
Then he recalled the decision he had made. He was the only one with the power to make things...well, not right, but better. Hopefully.
When the Doctor opened his eyes, Jack was gazing down at him with grave concern. His face lit up when the Doctor focused on him and the Time Lord found himself thoroughly kissed. When he was released from Jack's insistent lips, he pushed himself into a sitting position, trying not to look too ruffled. He had been covered with a light silken blanket, underneath which he seemed to be naked. “You dealt with your business then?”
“Hours ago,” Jack said with a chuckle. “I told you it wouldn't take long.”
“I wasn't lying here for hours!” the Doctor said with confusion.
“Uh...yeah, you were. So much for the time awareness of the Time Lords.”
“But...” the Doctor trailed off as he felt the flow of time in the atmosphere around them. Jack was telling the truth, hours had passed. He could feel them now. It was an unnerving sensation, recognising lost time. “I just closed my eyes for a second.”
“You drifted off,” Jack said with a shrug. “It happens. Like I said, it's addictive. If you reach out to it, it'll surround you in dreams. You looked so peaceful I didn't have the heart to wake you at first, but you were starting to suffocate...”
“What?!?”
“You weren't breathing enough,” Jack explained simply. “You were taking really deep breaths, but too slowly to actually get the air you need.”
“My respiratory bypass would have kept me going for a while,” the Doctor said petulantly, eager to remind Jack which of them was the superior biologically.
“It did, I think.” Jack brushed his hand against the Doctor's cheekbone. “I was worried, so I woke you.”
Another thought occurred to the Doctor. “Were you just sitting there for hours while I was...entranced?”
“Pretty much,” Jack said, nodding. “I double-checked the military advancement for the day and prepped the night troops. Sent an agent with the nanogenes to cure the girl with Blood Fever. Played with Drakton a while...you know his hair is almost as soft as yours? It's why I like him, to be honest. With the right tools, that mop of hair can look so wild I can almost imagine it's you I'm tugging down onto my cock.” He stared off into the middle distance for a few moments, ignorant yet again to the Doctor's shock and horror. “Then I came back to check on you, stayed a while. Then I collected the gifts sent for you from the people. There's normally quite a few but since you descended from on high, there's been a veritable windfall. People are practically donating their limbs or their first-born, or their first-born's limbs!”
“But I don't want...” began the Doctor.
“I know, I know. I didn't ask them for this, they give you things out of love.” Jack smiled softly, almost coy. “I can understand that.” He tapped on his wrist communicator and spoke into it. “Reyma my dear, could you bring in the sacred gifts for our God to examine?” The Doctor still got an unpleasant twist in his stomach whenever he was referred to as a god. To him, being the 'Lonely God' was synonymous with being the 'Oncoming Storm'. Gods destroyed, played games with inferior lives until their toys broke. The Master had called him godlike for his act of destruction that ended the Time War. Gods never made peace. How could they when their own minds and morals warred with power?
There was a very light tap at the door. Jack pressed a button on his wrist device and the door swished open. The Doctor made a mental note of which button had been pressed.
Reyma made slow progress into the room, struggling to tug along a hover platform weighed down with a tremendous pile of assorted gifts. On the other side of the dipping platform, Drakton struggled to push the hover along and keep it in the air.
“If that scratches the floor, you're both dead,” Jack warned in a foreboding tone. “I had these tiles imported from the Imperial Data-palace of the Hziak.”
“Well maybe you should get off your arse and help them then!” The Doctor cried out. The fear on Drakton and Reyma's young faces was fraying his last nerve.
The two young servants froze in place when they heard the Doctor speak, no longer trying to move the hover platform but struggling to hold it up with their lean arms. Of course they had never known anyone speak to the Overlord like that and live. And it had been an extraordinarily stupid move too, not at all thought through, because Jack could punish him right here and now. The only witnesses of his heresy would be Drakton and Reyma and he clearly had no qualms about punishing them. The Doctor's word could bring more suffering down on all of them.
But Jack stood up from the bed. “Certainly, your Holiness.” He bowed his head reverently then went to assist the two stunned servants with their heavy load. He could almost lift the entire thing on his own. The Doctor didn't know exactly what Jack had been doing over the past couple thousand years, but it had made him almost superhumanly strong. The champion of humanity indeed.
Once the imposing tower of presents was by the end of the bed, Reyma walked over and knelt beside the bed, handing the Doctor a collection of papers tied together with ribbon. “Letters of prayer from the people and more pictures from the children, my Lord.”
“Thank you, Reyma,” the Doctor said, smiling down at the girl. She beamed in response.
“You can both depart now,” Jack said loudly. “Avert your eyes as you go. Only I may see his glory when he is unprepared for company.”
The two servants scurried from the room. “I meant to ask,” the Doctor said as he and Jack were left alone once more. “Why exactly did you undress me?”
“I wanted to draw you,” Jack answered as he examined various trinkets that had been left for the Doctor. “You looked so gorgeous, so innocent and unaware. I mean I'm no artist, but I have some amazing colour flames from the Holy Realm of Priona. They improve my scrawl a little.”
“You didn't touch me then?” He had to ask. He couldn't believe it had reached a point where he actually had to ask.
“Of course not,” Jack replied, actually looking a little offended. “You were happy. You didn't need me to make you feel good, not with the trans-temporal-spatial scryer doing the job.” He gestured to the wad of paper in the Doctor's hand. “Anything good? There's been some amazing poetry written for you, I bet there's a verse or two in that lot.”
The Doctor untied the ribbon and began leafing through the papers while Jack continued picking through an assortment of jewellery, hand-made idols, money, treasured possessions and whatever else the citizens of Earth had to spare to show their devotion to their God.
The poem was the fourth page in the stack of paper. It was highly complimentary of the Doctor, but the Time Lord doubted it was what Jack had in mind. It was called 'The Day of Freedom', and it was written in archaic style.
Today our army marches forth
As our overlord planned
And on this day our one true God
Descends upon our land.
The battle for humanity
Will not be fought in space
On Earth we'll see the victory
The true strength of our race.
Oh joyous day of Saviour true
He spreads the truthful word
We spread his message to those who
Have seen but not yet heard.
Our overlord tonight shall die
False prophet of our Saviour
At midnight raise the battle cry,
'Our lives for love of the Doctor!'
It took barely any time at all for the Doctor to read the rest of the collected writings and drawings. Every single one (even the children's drawings) contained a reference to midnight and a hint of rebellion. A revolution was starting tonight in his honour. How many would die because of his message?
“Oh, that reminds me,” Jack said suddenly. “I haven't brought you your gift. I said I'd get you something and I did.” He had a very proud grin on his face. “Back in a bit, don't go anywhere.” The Doctor wasn't sure whether that was a joke or not.
When he was alone in the room once more, the Doctor wrapped himself in the thin blanket and wandered over to the window to look out over the darkness of the New Human Empire. The sun never shone here, but he didn't need that to tell that it was close to midnight. Yet another benefit of being a Time Lord, you're always punctual in regards to impending doom.
There was a fire burning on the horizon.
The door slid open and the Doctor pulled the blinds across the window. The last thing he wanted was Jack seeing potential trouble out there and deciding to intervene. He turned to the happy Overlord, who dropped to one knee and offered him...a flower. But on close inspection, the bright hue of the petals and the unique stem shape proved this to be no ordinary flower.
“That's a Xaan Royal Bloom,” the Doctor said with shock. “One grows on the desert side of the planet Xaan every ten years. One, Jack. Every ten years!”
“I'm aware of that,” Jack said with a pleased smile. “I intend to collect the solo plant every ten years for you. It took a bit of a desert trek, which is why my mission took the full hour instead of the uh...five minutes it should have done.” He pushed it up at the Doctor. “You can take it, you know. It's yours.”
Carefully the Doctor took the Royal Bloom. Its petals varied in colour from red to violet to orange. The stem twisted in beautiful patterns like a Celtic knot. In all his travels, the Doctor had never seen a real one. He had gone searching for one once, but he'd been caught up in some nasty political business in the capital city and he'd never remembered to resume the search. “It's beautiful, Jack.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” said the Overlord predictably.
It was nearing midnight. Now was not the time for the Doctor to have doubts. Unfortunately, this was the time his treacherous hearts had chosen to torment him. The gist of their argument was that Jack adored him, truly and completely, if not a little scarily. Jack wanted him to be happy, relaxed and revered as a god. Why should he always assume that whatever was good for him was bad for everyone else? Maybe he could use his power as 'god' and his power over Jack to fix the system and calm the insanity.
But it was not his hearts that made his decisions, it was his mind. And the Doctor's mind had a lot of very good reasons that this should end tonight. Oh it was tempting to relinquish control to someone who loved him, to spend his days in chemical hedonism or psychic fantasy, but Jack could not be trusted in any way anymore. The man was completely insane. Yes, tonight there were gifts of Xaan Royal Blooms, but tomorrow there could be violence and death. The man's possessive streak was already clear as the day that never came to this Earth anymore.
Even that wasn't the final decision-maker. The logic to vanquish temptation was simple Time Lord insight. He could see the timelines. Jack was making a terrible mess. His timeless, unnatural presence was slicing through the threads of time like a knife, severing cause from effect and disconnecting the past from the present. When the shockwaves of his actions hit the Boeshane Peninsula in the fifty-first century, Jack Harkness or whatever he was called then would not be born. And if Jack wasn't born...well, that's where Paradox started to implode the Universe. Any other person might not have been quite so disastrous a change, but Jack was a Fact, Jack was permanent. The Universe would not be able to purge him to clear the way for the rightful order of events. He was, as he had been since the Gamestation, an aberration. And the Doctor had to do what he should have done as soon as Jack woke from death-by-Dalek.
But it was Jack, who loved him so very much. The blame for the Captain's fate could not rest entirely on his shoulders. The Doctor's neglect had played a part and it seemed unfair that Jack should be the only one to suffer.
He could only think of one way to make up even half of an apology.
“Thank you so much for this, Jack,” he said, gently placing the flower on the bedside table. “It's a beautiful gift. I feel I should give you something in return.”
“You owe me nothing,” Jack said with a smile as he got up from his knees. This man was very different from the angry Captain that had demanded answers all those years ago.
“Still,” the Doctor murmured, walking over to the Overlord with a slight sway of his hips, “there must be something you want from me.”
Jack's breath quickened and his gaze swept over the Doctor. The Time Lord was very aware that there was only a thin layer of fabric shielding his naked body from Jack's eyes. The Overlord took a step closer, then stopped himself. “Why are you offering... What are you offering?”
The Doctor closed the gap between them, one of his hands sliding up over Jack's shoulders while the other clutched the blanket to his body. “You know what I'm offering.”
“But I thought you didn't want me touching you?” Jack said, his strong body actually trembling from the Doctor's behaviour. “You said it was rape and... Doctor, I'm confused.”
It was sad, how the slightest hint of requited affection from the Doctor could reduce Jack to a powerless wreck. The Doctor leant in closer so that his body was pressing lightly against the Overlord. “I also said I would stay. If I'm going to stick around, I should try to enter into the spirit of the age. You wanted to worship me, yeah?”
Jack swallowed. “Yeah...”
Now was the time then. The Doctor stepped back and pushed the blanket from his shoulders, the material brushing deliciously against his skin on its way to the floor. “So do it.”
For a while, Jack said nothing. He just stared into the Doctor's eyes as though he expected the Time Lord to change his mind. Eventually though, he seemed to realise that this was actually happening and he reached carefully around the Doctor's body, pulling the man up against him.
“I don't know what to say,” he whispered shakily.
“Say nothing,” the Doctor instructed him. It would be easier that way. “Just make love to me. I want you to have me.”
Jack nodded slowly, then kissed him. It was a tentative and gentle kiss, devoid of the passion and possessiveness the Doctor had associated with the Overlord so far. The simple fact that the Doctor was willing to do this seemed to have robbed Jack of his need to dominate and possess. He knew the Doctor wasn't going anywhere so he didn't have to drug him or hold him down. He could guide him to the bed with all the sweetness of a first-time lover. When the Doctor lay down on the soft underblanket Jack kissed him all over, slowly working his way from the soles of the Doctor's feet up to the Time Lord's collarbone.
Once he was level with the Doctor's face, there was a long moment where they stared into one another's eyes. “If you don't want this...” Jack began.
“You'll drug me?” the Doctor asked coolly. This was exactly why he'd asked Jack to be silent. This intimacy was too poignant for questions and arguments and upsetting information.
“I just want you to be happy,” Jack said seriously. “My feelings aren't worth a damn. I don't want you doing this to please me.”
The Doctor ran his fingers up the Overlord's spine. “Jack, I know you can make me feel good. Make me feel complete.” He pressed his lips to Jack's and sought the man's tongue with his own. Jack's response was delayed, but passionate. When he broke from the kiss, the Doctor gazed up into Jack's blue eyes and played his winning card. “I want you,” he murmured breathlessly.
He'd never seen a human undress so fast. Jack's clothes were thrown across the room as the immortal rushed to equal the Doctor in nudity. The Overlord knelt by the Doctor's legs for a moment, just looking at him. “So many fantasies... I don't know where to begin.”
“You did last night,” the Doctor said.
“That was different,” Jack replied. “Last night was good. This needs to be perfect.”
It was midnight and already the Doctor could feel the rumble of the Earth as the revolution began. He reached his arms up towards Jack. “It will be perfect. All I need for perfection is you.”
Jack's eyes misted with tears. “You mean that?”
“Yes,” the Doctor lied.
Jack crawled over and kissed him deeply. Lovingly. The Doctor wrapped his arms around the brawny man and felt tentative touches on his cock as Jack gently coaxed his body into a sensual arousal. Such a careful, gentle touch it was hard to believe that this man was a tyrant, that power had driven him mad. Jack's blue eyes held deep concentration and affection as he bestowed teasing touches and slow kisses on the body being offered up to him.
It wasn’t easy to allow this touch, to allow this sensation. He had to will his body into relaxation and consciously lean into Jack's touch. It became easier as Jack caressed and licked and made it feel worth his while. It started to feel good, almost semi-natural, like he’d done this out of lust.
The Doctor was starting to pant with pleasure. Shockwaves of sensation were running through him from his head to his toes. Then Jack did something with his fingers and a moan erupted from the Doctor's throat, completely of its own volition.
Jack was murmuring sweet nothings in the Doctor’s ear and his warm hands were everywhere, rubbing, squeezing, stroking… It was so different to be doing this with a clear mind. A real shock to his frigid system. The Doctor was almost at the brink before remembering why he was doing this wonderful, wonderful thing.
He grabbed Jack’s upper arms, digging his fingers into the firm muscles there. “Jack, wait, wait…” Before the immortal could get the wrong idea, he continued, “I want you. I want you inside me when I come. Please.” The words tasted strange on his tongue, but Jack seemed thrilled by them. After kissing the Doctor again, Jack reached to the bedside table (a Japanese antique) and picked up some lotion.
The Doctor took the lotion and pushed himself upright, forcing Jack to move back. “Lay down,” he said, satisfied when Jack eagerly obeyed. The Doctor wanted to submit, he didn’t want Jack to take control. He wanted to be in charge, to show the Overlord that his Doctor had chosen to relinquish power to him in this bed.
This wasn’t an area of expertise for the Time Lord, but tentative exploration with the lotion along Jack’s hot flesh enlightened him to what the immortal enjoyed. The Doctor was straddling the man’s thighs while Jack shifted pleasantly underneath him. Every so often their erections slid together and the Doctor found his leg muscles tensing, driving him forward to rub wantonly against Jack’s slick cock.
The lotion was taken from his hand and the Doctor opened his eyes. He didn’t even realise he’d closed them. Jack was slicking up his fingers and reaching down…
The Doctor whimpered as a finger pushed slowly inside him, pressing at him in amazing ways. He tried to relax so that Jack could hurry, but the immortal seemed perfectly content to take his time with one finger twisting slowly and flexing inside the Doctor’s arse. “Jack…please…”
“Sssh. I’m getting you all ready. Nice and easy,” Jack murmured in a low and soothing voice. “This stuff makes it easier, it’s not just lube. It…” he gasped as the Doctor clenched around his finger. “It makes you accommodate more. No pain. I never want any pain for you.”
The Doctor felt flushed all over as Jack massaged inside him. So hot he was burning. His body was as hot as Jack’s. They were burning up together. He gripped Jack’s wrist and looked the man in the eye. That icy blue gaze focused the Doctor on his goal like nothing else. “Please…” he gasped.
Jack withdrew his finger and rested his hands on the Doctor’s hips. The Time Lord let himself be guided down onto the man’s hard, hot cock. It pushed inside him as though it belonged there. Whatever Jack had slicked him with, it had done a superb job. The only strain was on Jack, who was holding back, being slow and gentle, even though he had to bite his lip until it bled to keep his restraint.
Once he was fully down on Jack’s erection, the Doctor tried to breathe deeply. His body was tingling all over, waves of pleasure rippling through him from his core. “That lotion…it…what is it?”
“Sensitises you,” Jack said breathlessly as he cupped the Doctor’s balls in one hand. “It’s not a drug, I swear,” he assured the Doctor. “Just…just tingly stuff.” The Overlord was panting now, his strong chest heaving as the Doctor shifted on his cock.
The Doctor leaned back slightly, moaning softly at the pleasant sensation of Jack filling him, throbbing inside him. When he looked down, he saw Jack’s eyes were full of awe. The immortal held the Doctor in place with a hand on the small of his back and the other hand played with the Time Lord’s hard member. “I can’t believe…”
“Ssh,” the Doctor cut him off, leaning down to interrupt Jack with a kiss. He started to lift himself along the slick erection buried inside him, then sank back down. Then up again. The dual sensation of the cock in his arse and Jack’s playful hands on his hardness were bringing the Doctor to the edge already. He wasn’t exactly used to this, after all.
“So beautiful,” Jack whispered. “My Doctor, God of Time.”
The Doctor slid his hands up so that each palm covered a nipple, his right hand virtually above Jack’s heart. “I am yours,” he whispered, staring into Jack’s eyes.
Jack came with a cry, his hips thrusting up into the Doctor. As the Overlord shook with release, the Doctor closed his eyes and sought that unique energy within Jack’s body. He found it…and he called it to his hands. He was the last of the Time Lords and that Vortex energy belonged to him. It rushed through Jack’s skin, drawn to its master’s fingertips. It might have glowed golden as it suffused the Doctor’s being, but neither man had their eyes open to see if that was the case.
The energy thrummed briefly through the Doctor’s veins, heightening the pleasure coursing through his slender frame. He couldn’t hold on any longer and his climax erupted from him with a sudden violence that left flashes of light in his vision.
Limbs shaking with exhaustion, the Doctor raised himself from Jack’s softening cock and collapsed at the man’s side. He turned away, facing the antique table, and breathed the golden energy from his lips. This wasn’t the raw power he had taken from Rose over a lifetime ago, this was life from the vortex. It swirled against the carpet as he watched. It had no purpose now, Jack was mortal once more.
“What now?” Jack asked against the back of the Doctor’s neck.
“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked innocently, though he was wondering the same thing himself. Jack could die now, but should the Doctor take it upon himself to do the deed? Could he take that responsibility?
“Well, I was wondering how far this was going to go. When Delilah cut Samson’s hair, she left it to the Philistines to burn his eyes out with hot pokers. She didn’t kill him, just made him weak and human. So I was wondering how much of a Delilah you are. Whether you’re going to leave me to their mercy or if you have enough respect left to kill me yourself.”
The Doctor turned over so that he lay facing Jack. “You know?”
Jack laughed. “I told you, I remember you. If you disapprove of something, it disappears. Weapons factories become banana groves. Governments crumble, organisations collapse. The Oncoming Storm, burning everything so beautifully. I’m flattered you pretended to accept this.”
“I…”
“And the rebellion is inspired,” Jack continued, still smiling. “Those people are fighting me out of love for you. I unified them under your banner and you’re using that! It’s amazing. You were with the Preacher for what, ten minutes? And in that time you set in motion such a large-scale revolution. You never cease to amaze me.”
“But you knew what I was doing?” the Doctor asked, still dumbfounded. “You knew and you did nothing?”
“Who am I to doubt your plans?” Jack said with a shrug. His gaze was on the ceiling, the trans-temporal-spatial scryer now showing the chaos outside. Guards were trying to prevent the masses from getting into the palace, but they were vastly outnumbered. “When the troops return, they’ll find a new order in place. And they’re just as predisposed to listen to your word as the rest of humanity. I trained them all well for you. Oh, and the pass-code to the shrine is based on the date we met. You can use the vortex manipulator to override the voice recognition.”
“But did you know what I was doing here?” asked the Doctor, nodding to their naked bodies. They both seemed intent to ignore the sounds of gunfire and screaming getting closer.
Jack nodded. “Oh yeah. But I’d die to touch you any day.” He sighed and looked back at the Doctor, his expression of ease and relaxation completely out of place under the circumstances. “So what’s it to be? You running off in the TARDIS to let the discontented masses burn me at the stake? Or can I tempt you to do me one last favour?”
“You want me to kill you?” This was not turning out at all like the Doctor had suspected. He had meant to be the strong one, taking the power of immortality from Jack’s body and the power of leadership from Jack’s hands. Jack was not supposed to still be making the decisions.
Jack took the Doctor’s hands in his. “I know I’ve disappointed you in so many ways. I know I don’t deserve to ask this of you. So I beg. Please Doctor, it would be an honour to die at your hands. This night has been the best of my long life and if it must end here, I want it to end with you. I want your face to be the last thing I see. Please.”
The Doctor turned away from Jack’s pleading eyes. He held himself responsible for so much death. He was the bringer of tragedy and it haunted him every quiet moment, every lonely moment. The reason he was alone was because he had destroyed everyone else and the few that remained were too clever to get near him and have their lives ruined. But to take a weapon in his hands…or worse, to use these hands as a weapon…the blood would never scrub off.
“Doctor, please…”
He shook his head. “I can’t…Jack, I can’t…”
Footsteps thundered around the building, getting louder as the mob moved closer. “At least people don’t use pitchforks anymore,” Jack said casually. “Wouldn’t want one of them in the eye.”
“For god’s sake Jack…” How could the man be so relaxed? Had he lost his mind so completely?
“What? I’ve lived a fun life. I don’t regret anything leading me to this point. Although…” For a moment, Jack’s eyes stared into the Doctor’s with a clarity that had been missing thus far, “…it might have been nice if I’d made you proud. If I’d built an Empire you wanted to rule with me.”
“You couldn’t,” said the Doctor. “We should never rule. We have too much power as it is.”
A loud bang on the door made them both jump and Jack instinctively pulled the Doctor back across the bed so that the Overlord was closest to the door.
“Overlord Harkness! We demand you surrender to the noble followers of the Doctor! Your heresy will rule us no longer!”
Jack looked imploringly at the Doctor. “Are they to be my judges and executioners?”
The Doctor hesitated as the door was thumped louder and harder. Ordinarily his mind would have been running at ridiculous speeds as he thought out his options, but at that moment he was frozen and his mind was blank. This was a situation of his own making in every way and he could see no way out.
The door was beginning to shake under the fists of the angry citizens. Amidst their yells the Doctor heard a familiar female voice – Reyma. “You cannot enter! That room belongs to the Doctor! He is currently speaking with the Overlord!”
“Back, whore of Harkness!”
There was a gunshot and Reyma spoke no more. The Doctor sank back into Jack’s arms. “Oh Rassilon, what have I done?”
“What you had to,” Jack said softly in his ear. “You always do. And you take the costs on your back as a personal burden, even when they break you.” A deep sigh ruffled the Doctor’s hair. “Have I told you I love you, Doctor?”
The Doctor pulled away from Jack’s arms and stood from the bed. He walked over to Jack’s discarded coat and checked inside while the Overlord watched him silently. Hidden pockets awarded him with various gadgets and communicators and…ah. A knife. That would do. He held it up for Jack’s appraisal. The ex-immortal took a deep breath and lay back on the bed.
Outside the door there were increasingly strange mechanical noises. The locking mechanisms were being dealt with. They didn’t have much time. It still felt like everything was happening in slow-motion as the Doctor approached Jack’s vulnerable body and straddled his hips as a morbid tribute to their previous intimacy. He held the knife in both hands and pressed the point of the blade gently against the skin covering Jack’s ancient heart.
He was about to say again that he couldn’t do this, but realised before he opened his mouth that this had gone too far now. To doubt himself now would be ridiculous. This had to be done and he was going to do it. He had started this, it was his duty to finish it.
Without further procrastination, the Doctor slammed the blade down through Jack’s chest. Jack let out a sharp sound of agony before clenching his teeth in an attempt to fight the pain. He reached up one trembling arm to the Doctor, who immediately let go of the knife with one hand to press Jack’s warm palm to his face. Jack’s gaze never flickered from the Doctor’s face, his blue eyes drinking in every millimetre of his God’s appearance until they glazed over with the emptiness of death.
The Doctor sat naked, too grieved to cry, one hand on Jack’s hand and one hand on the weapon that killed him. He remained motionless in that position until his ‘followers’ broke down the bedroom door.
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"trying not to look too ruffled"
No! Don't try NOT to lool to ruffled, it's sexy! :D
Wow. That chapter was so powerful! I didn't guessed that Jack was beware of the Doctor's actions! I was surprised...like the Doctor and...geeez. You're taking my breath away.
"You always do. And you take the costs on your back as a personal burden, even when they break you.”
*sobbing so hard* Oh sarky, that's so utterly sad. And true. Beautiful.
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I'm not leaving it there, I'm just finishing off the fifth part. :)
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I love it. Absolutely love it. You've gone and broken my heart(s), of course, but in a wonderful way.
OMGJaaaack. *cries* Doctooooor.
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You're a Time Lord? In that case I think the Doctor could really use a hug from you right now.
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The build-up, Jack's knowledge of the Doctor's plan, your characterization of the Doctor....
My god.
This is brilliant and I can't wait until you update with part five.
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And your icon has me hypnotised (as usual)...
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It's disturbing how Jack can say all sorts of horrible things and not even realise what he's doing.
I liked that he knew what was coming for him. I think every other option would have broken my heart.
But claiming he never wants to hurt the Doctor and then asking him to kill him... Oh Jack!
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Jack doesn't see how much his request hurts the Doctor. He thinks his life is inconsequential to the Doctor. Not only that, but he knows the Doctor's motivations for wanting Jack gone and he knows the Doctor's tendency to do the right thing at the cost of his feelings. So he doesn't think twice about asking for his demise to be at the Doctor's hands.
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You're so good at angst. *pout, sniffle, sobs and goes for the tissues* I like it when you're mean to the Doctor.
*sits patiently in her computer chair, without moving, for the fifth part*
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Wow.
I was so proud of the series I'm writing at the moment because it gets pretty angsty in places... but you're in a whole other league.
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Holy fuck.
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Holy fuck. Not a good spell to cast while having sex, it burns a little XD
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I need the last chapter soon. I have to know how this ends. You're a very talented writer :)
I've read a lot of your other fics but this is the first time (I think) I've actually commented. But I couldn't not - I had to express my love for this fic - it's so sad and wonderful and well-written. :)
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Don't be shy about commenting, I'm always happy to hear from people.
Also, your icon takes my breath away. Where did you find it? I rewatch that scene over and over *drools*
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Jack new what he was doing, and he seemed to admire the brilliance of his plan, so tragic.
Every time I read something new from you I'm always blown away by how great an author you are. For example, the sex is leading somewhere, it has a purpose, despite the fact that they're having sex the tension isn't going anywhere, it's just building and propelling the plot. So clever and amazing and fantastic.
But you're going to make it better, right?
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I knew this wasn't going to end well but I had no idea... *flails*
OMG!!! the Doctor... I think saying he's going to be broken is SO far of an UNDERSTATEMENT... I can't believe Jack is gone. But the way you did it was so intense, powerful, agonizingly beautiful and poignant...
Just the last part now... I will sob quietly until it's posted...
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Oh, divine, divine! Built up so beautifully, Jack's understanding at the end, asking for the Doctor kill him like that, the horror, drawing the Doctor, the golden light of the vortex at the climax of something so hot (the sex) and terrible. You are brilliant! xxxx