Chapter song: Doomsday by Murray Gold

***

"Offline."

And just like that, the Doctor's universe fell apart.

"I've got to get it," screamed Rose over the still-howling winds. Releasing the magnet with one hand, she strained to reach the lever. It was just too far - her fingers slipped from the magnet and she barely managed to grasp the lever handle before the force of the Void could tear her away.

Slowly, excruciatingly, she pushed it upright. The instant it clicked back into place, the gentle female voice assuring them "Online and locked," the suction redoubled. Rose's feet were swept from the floor, her hands struggling to grip the lever.

"Rose!" the Doctor yelled, suddenly desperate. "Hold on!"

"I... can't—"

The Doctor growled in frustration, then violently made up his mind. "Just hang on - I'll fix it!" he told her, and pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

Instantly he felt the Void's tug on it, sucking both him and the screwdriver harder toward the breach. It was all he could do to hang on to the magnet with one hand and not let go of the tiny metal device with the other. Across the room, Rose let out a wordless cry as she struggled to maintain her grasp.

It was like every second stretched into centuries - and the Doctor knew firsthand how that felt. One by one, the girl's fingers slipped from the lever handle, and piece by piece, the Doctor's hearts began to shatter.

In one final burst of determination, he wrested the screwdriver back to his chest, aiming it at the lever handle. He still wasn't sure what he could accomplish with it, but something definitely happened. With a shower of sparks and a sickening crunch, the lever jerked out of position.

The next instant, Rose was flying across the room, a final scream torn from her throat. Before the Doctor could even curse his own stupidity, another figure shimmered into existence between Rose and the open Void. Her father's arms were wide, and with a grunt of surprise, he caught the girl before she could be sucked into the breach.

One final glance.

The Doctor screamed her name.

And both figures vanished, only seconds before the breach sealed itself and everything went still.

There was no time to think.

The Doctor dropped to the floor, staring motionlessly at the wall where the Void had raged only moments before. He was breathing hard, the screwdriver clenched so tightly in his hand it might have drawn blood and he wouldn't have noticed.

Slow, measured steps took the tall figure across the room. Not even the faint popping and sparking of the damaged lever drew his attention. A deep moaning emanated throughout the building from dozens of floors below.

The Doctor placed his hand against the pristine white wall. There was no way through anymore - the gap between parallel universes was sealed permanently.

It was just a wall.

And the floor beneath him was just a floor, it had always been a floor - so why was it shaking?

The Doctor tensed. The vibrations were getting stronger, and he could hear... A look of horror crossed his face, and he sprinted away from the wall as a rumbling crash filled the white room.

Everything happened at once. In a tremendous explosion of sound and plaster, the TARDIS rose through the floor. The wall behind the Doctor spasmed with colour. Both levers snapped completely free, whether as a side effect or a cause of the breach, it was impossible to say.

The Void had re-opened itself.

The Doctor had assumed too much - how could the TARDIS resist the pull of the Void? It virtually belonged there. The nothingness it spent so much time jumping through was claiming the blue box at last. Spinning slowly toward the breach, the TARDIS appeared to be resisting its pull - but fifty floors of steel-reinforced concrete hadn't stopped it, and neither would the Doctor's six-foot frame.

He leaped for the TARDIS's swinging doors, his first priority to get control of the ship. With action-movie precision, the Time Lord rolled into the doorway and grabbed a handle. Realizing his screwdriver was still gripped in his other hand, he aimed it at one of the magnets still attached to the opposite wall, running on a vague idea of keeping the TARDIS in place with the Torchwood technology.

It was all noise and wind around the Doctor as he hung out of the doorway. There was nothing left for the Void to grab at but the Doctor and his TARDIS, the suction becoming pinpoint-focused on them.

Whatever he'd been planning with the magnet instantly backfired. His aim was jostled wildly by the spinning box, and the next moment the magnet had detached itself from the wall, flying through the air straight to the Doctor's hand...

He wasn't ready for it.

It bowled him over backwards, continuing its trajectory directly toward the console of the TARDIS and embedding itself there with a shower of sparks. The Doctor lost his grip, both doors slamming shut, and suddenly it was too late.

The Void had claimed its last possessions.

Slowly, it quieted, the white room going dead. No one was there to see it. No one could have helped.

On this side, there was no coming back.

***

Hey guys. You still with me? I hope no one's too traumatized. This'll be a pretty long author's note, but the content is crucial to how you read the story, so let's go!

You may have figured this out already (I mean I hope you've figured this out already), but this scene comes from Series 2, Episode 13 (02x13 for short). I hate to start a book off with Doomsday, but that's just how it goes sometimes✌️

As you can see, I've changed a few details even before we crossed outside the show's canon. For example, the episode doesn't specifically record what happens after the Void closes, so technically what comes next is just headcanon (means it could have happened, isn't contradicted by the actual show). But before that, I did throw in a couple details, like the Doctor pulling out his sonic screwdriver, that aren't in the original. So that would count as AU (alternate universe) in fandom-speak. Except I'm going to refer to it instead as UA (universe, altered) which implies that tiny details have been altered, rather than events or people which affect the entire universe. My changes aren't big enough to warrant an AU, in my opinion, so this is how I'm working it. I'm up for a discussion on my method, though!

Anyway, in the next chapter we're getting into the actual story. Took me long enough, right?

Time to meet Ash Forrester.