The Master scarcely heard him, so deep into the connection as he was already, attempting to break his way into the Doctor's mind. He'd batted away the feeble protests, holding it firmly within his grasp and pushing mercilessly, and now... now the Doctor was beginning to yield. Now he'd see what his future held, and what was being kept from him.
His smile was incredibly short-lived as he realized that this wasn't what he'd been looking for. Not at all.
The atmosphere below was choked with smoke and dust, nearly obscuring the surface of the planet entirely, and though he was far removed from it the debris seemed to catch in his throat, making him gag and cough. The screens around him reflected the mounting chaos in perfect clarity. The Citadel's dome was shattered, broken, the corpses of Dalek and Time Lord ships alike piled up at its feet. Millions more were present above the destruction, in the skies and in the vacuum of space, some of them little more than flaming balls of wreckage sailing past on the monitors. Occasionally he could see glimpses of the Nightmare Child, here and there, gobbling up what it could, and he could hear the screams from both Dalek and Time Lord as they inadvertently flew into its open maw.
In some parts on Gallifrey, you could barely the orange sky anymore. Fires were still raging on Mounts Cadon and Lung. Nobody would ever put them out. The world below him was rapidly becoming a wasteland.
But very faintly, through the smoke and ash and flame, he could just glimpse what looked like red fields, the peaks of a very familiar House. Throughout this entire war, incredibly, Mount Perdition had survived. What were the odds?
His small smile vanished in an instant as he heard the high, grating voice of the Dalek Emperor, raised in victory. They'd gotten to the Cruciform. And in the next instant, those red fields were aflame, the House a smoking ruin, and he was screaming...
The Master yanked his mind back, severing the connection with an agonized yell, but it was far too late. The Doctor's memories had burned into his brain, mixing with his own to create a reality that was somehow even more terrifying. He stared sightlessly as he stumbled back to the wall and slid down it, the House's absolute hysteria at seeing itself destroyed overcoming his senses. He didn't know he was still screaming, nor that there were now tears in his eyes. All he knew was horror.
The House began to shake as if possessed, worse than anything before. Doors flew open and closed, furniture skittered across the room or collapsed without warning, spilling their contents onto the floor. Books and candlesticks whizzed through the air, and the walls seemed to warp, as if writhing in agony. The Drudges dropped the Doctor unceremoniously and crumpled to the ground, the life temporarily gone out of them without a stable mind to sustain their function.
://////////////////////////
His smile was incredibly short-lived as he realized that this wasn't what he'd been looking for. Not at all.
The atmosphere below was choked with smoke and dust, nearly obscuring the surface of the planet entirely, and though he was far removed from it the debris seemed to catch in his throat, making him gag and cough. The screens around him reflected the mounting chaos in perfect clarity. The Citadel's dome was shattered, broken, the corpses of Dalek and Time Lord ships alike piled up at its feet. Millions more were present above the destruction, in the skies and in the vacuum of space, some of them little more than flaming balls of wreckage sailing past on the monitors. Occasionally he could see glimpses of the Nightmare Child, here and there, gobbling up what it could, and he could hear the screams from both Dalek and Time Lord as they inadvertently flew into its open maw.
In some parts on Gallifrey, you could barely the orange sky anymore. Fires were still raging on Mounts Cadon and Lung. Nobody would ever put them out. The world below him was rapidly becoming a wasteland.
But very faintly, through the smoke and ash and flame, he could just glimpse what looked like red fields, the peaks of a very familiar House. Throughout this entire war, incredibly, Mount Perdition had survived. What were the odds?
His small smile vanished in an instant as he heard the high, grating voice of the Dalek Emperor, raised in victory. They'd gotten to the Cruciform. And in the next instant, those red fields were aflame, the House a smoking ruin, and he was screaming...
The Master yanked his mind back, severing the connection with an agonized yell, but it was far too late. The Doctor's memories had burned into his brain, mixing with his own to create a reality that was somehow even more terrifying. He stared sightlessly as he stumbled back to the wall and slid down it, the House's absolute hysteria at seeing itself destroyed overcoming his senses. He didn't know he was still screaming, nor that there were now tears in his eyes. All he knew was horror.
The House began to shake as if possessed, worse than anything before. Doors flew open and closed, furniture skittered across the room or collapsed without warning, spilling their contents onto the floor. Books and candlesticks whizzed through the air, and the walls seemed to warp, as if writhing in agony. The Drudges dropped the Doctor unceremoniously and crumpled to the ground, the life temporarily gone out of them without a stable mind to sustain their function.