Hello! And welcome to Time Child: Preservation, the 7th story in the Time Child saga. If you're new around here, you may want to take a look at the previous 6 stories, all of which are on my profile here.

This story is rated M for bad language, some sensitive subjects and mild sexual - definitely not explicit - scenes. The explicit stuff tends to go into the Outtakes story for the saga, should you be interested in that sort of thing.

I also have a Tumblr, which is DanniFielding and definitely somewhere you should come hang out!

Oh, and the cover is by my good friend amaurapond, also on Tumblr. Thank you, sweetie!

Enjoy :D

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The sky was pink with the start of dusk, shining off the water that surrounded the dark stoned mountains. It was peaceful, quiet, a perfect place for contemplation of life and morality. Side by side, following a man in regal green and blue and green robes, the Doctor and Danni made their way towards a platform built on a cliff edge, in front of an ancient castle. Stone pillars with decorations led the way.

"This technology is precisely calibrated. As you can see, it will stop both hearts, all three brain stems, and deliver a cellular shock wave that will permanently disable regenerative ability," the man explained as they came to a stop.

"I know how it works," the Doctor replied as they took their place at its side. In the middle was a single, square cushion but otherwise the platform was empty.

Danni raised her hand. "I have a question," she declared before looking up at the Doctor. "Why do they get to kill her and I don't?"

He sighed heavily, the sound of a man who'd had the same argument over and over. "Because it is their job, as executioners, to carry out executions. What you want to commit is murder."

She crossed her arms. "I don't see the difference," she replied bluntly and stubbornly. "They're just onlookers. I'm the one she's wronged. Why can't I carry out the punishment?"

"Because it's not a punishment if you enjoy it," he retorted. "We're trying to be better than her, remember?"

Danni brushed a loose piece of her brown hair behind her ear before crossing her arms once again. "I am better than her," she stated. "That's why I should be killing her. There's no need to do it here. I could stop her before she regenerates. Jack helped me with my aim, remember?"

"Yes, I remember," he muttered under his breath. He'd not been a fan of Jack spending the day training her up to be a better shot with her gun. It had been a long day trying to get her back in from the shooting range the immortal man had set up. "You're not killing her because killing people is wrong," he explained simply. "Now just stand back and let them do their job."

"Fine," Danni grumbled, but she fell silent. She knew killing people was wrong – of course she did, she wasn't stupid – but this wasn't just some ordinary case. This was the woman who had beaten and abused her. Who'd almost broke her mind and her sanity. She wasn't doing it just for kicks, but it felt wrong to let someone carry out what she felt was her revenge for her.

"Put it this way," the Doctor said. "Either way she ends up dead."

Danni nodded, reluctantly agreeing. Ultimately it didn't matter who carried out the justice, the universe would not be a safer place until she was dead. And, finally, that was about to happen.

"Following termination, the body will be placed in a Quantum Fold chamber," the executioner continued, "under constant guard for no less than a thousand years. In case of, shall we say, relapses. Life can be a cunning enemy."

"And you still want them to do it over me?" Danni stated. The Doctor sent her a sharp look. "Fine, fine."

"An additional stipulation of the Fatality Index is that the sentence must be carried out by another Time Lord."

Danni looked sharply up at her husband. "Hang on, you didn't mention that!" she protested. She turned back to the executioner. "I'm a Time Lord," she told him. "Why him and not me?"

"The Fatality Index requires a being with the purest of blood," he explained. "You, unfortunately, do not fit the role."

Danni stared, positively offended. "But I'm the one she wronged!" she exclaimed. "I'm the one she kept captive! I want my justice!" The Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder, calming her down before she launched into a full rant. "How is this fair?"

"It is not fair, it is inevitable," the executioner replied.

The door in the wall behind them opened and out stepped Missy, posing as if she had a hundred cameras on them. "Danielle," she greeted. "Doctor. I didn't expect you." She stepped out. "I thought you'd retired. Family bliss on Darillium. That's the word among the Daleks." She stopped in front of them, clasping her hands behind her back. "What happened?"

Danni growled, hands clenching as she moved forward to wring Missy's neck with her bare hands. The Doctor held her back, pushing her slightly behind him to create a barrier between the two.

"Oh, I see," Missy said, casting her eyes downwards. "My condolences."

"You sick, twisted…" Danni started to snarl as the Doctor moved them out of the way, giving Missy a clear pathway to the executioner's block. He turned, standing in front of his wife, using the height difference to block her view of the other Time Lady. He held onto both her arms, making sure her attention was on him.

"I'm doing this, not you, because feeding this anger will not end well," he explained quietly. "It won't sate it. It will leave you feeling hollow and unfulfilled. It will leave you craving more and more until nothing in the universe can help you. Let me help you."

"But she…" Danni started in protest.

"I know what she did," he interrupted. "I was on the other end of it, remember?"

Danni pressed her lips together and he relaxed slightly, seeing the thoughts turning in her brain. Bringing it back to him was the only thing that could ever, really, calm her down. She hated the thought that while she had been trapped and terrified, he'd been alone and defeated. She never wanted him to feel anything close to that again. But then her features softened as she realised what he wasn't taking off her, but taking on for her instead.

"Fine," she agreed softly. He smiled, placing a kiss on her forehead as Missy scoffed behind them. He left her to the side of the block before moving to his position.

"The prisoner will kneel," the executioner commanded. Missy didn't move straight away and instead was encouraged to kneel on the cushion by two other men in robes. From the water around them rose a large, metal cube – the Quantum Fold Chamber.

"The Quantum Fold chamber is prepared," the man declared. "The sentence will be carried out." He looked to the Doctor. "Executioner?"

The Doctor gave her arms one last squeeze for reassurance before he walked over to the lever conveniently in front of where Missy was knelt. She stared up at him, suddenly looking rather afraid.

"Please, I'll do anything. Just let me live," she begged quietly. He shook his head.

Danni straightened slightly, hearts racing. Suddenly, watching him about to kill anyone gave her a much better understanding as to why he never wanted her to do the same. She worried her hands together, wanting to pull him away and tell him he was right, that it wasn't good for anyone, that he was better than that and so was she and that she was just so sorry.

Then she frowned as a robed figure headed towards the execution area, their head bowed and face hidden. "Um, Doctor," she called out, unsure of whether or not she should be talking. He looked exasperated, which was understandable considering how much she had been complaining, but she nodded towards the figure. "We have company." He looked over his shoulder, as surprised at the figure as she was.

"Have you requested a priest?" the executioner asked.

The priest motioned at him and he shrugged. "Apparently, I have," the Doctor replied.

"I shall seek consultation," the executioner declared pompously. He looked at the device on his wrist, pressing a few buttons and twisting the face as he looked for the answer. "There are 412 precedents in the Fatality Index," he explained. "Divine intervention, therefore, is permitted for a maximum of five minutes. The executioner may now discuss his immortal soul and any peril thereunto."

The Doctor's hand fell off the lever, almost relieved. "I'm allowed to take the wife, yes?" he asked, motioning Danni over before he could get an answer. She was quick to his side, very curious about what was happening. He bent down low, keeping his voice quiet. "After all, you are utterly divine."

She giggled. "Theta, that was awful," she chided lightly. "It's a solemn place. No flirting."

They stopped in front of the hooded figure. "Greetings, sinners," they said in a low voice. "Only in darkness are we revealed."

"I never sent for you," the Doctor declared. "Neither of us sent for you."

They held a book in front of them, open on ancient, yellowed pages. "Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage." Danni pulled a bit of a face, looking up at her husband, who didn't seem to have a clue was going on either. "Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit without hope, without witness, without reward. Virtue is only virtue in extremis. This is what she believes. And this is the reason, above all, that I love her. My friend. My daughter. My Danni-Girl."

He closed the book, showing off the TARDIS cover on the other side. Her hearts skipped a painful beat and tears gathered in her eyes. He pulled the hood down and she smiled brightly. "Your mother wouldn't approve," he said in his normal voice.

"Nardole," she said happily.

He shot a pointed look at the Doctor. "Your mother-in-law wouldn't, either."

"How the hell did you get here?" the Doctor asked grumpily. He didn't appreciate being told off from beyond the grave. Or, rather, beyond a computer in a Library.

"Followed you from Darillium," Nardole explained casually. "On the explicit orders of her late mother, River Song." He turned his attention back to Danni. "Warning; I have full permission to kick your arse."

"And I don't doubt, for a second, that you would either," Danni told him. "We can't let her live, Nardole. You know what she's done."

"Do you really think this is the way to go about it?" he asked patiently in reply. Danni looked over her shoulder at Missy, then back to him.

"No, I don't," she admitted, surprising the Doctor. "I don't want him to have to do it, but I can't do it either."

"Then, perhaps, you should be looking for another way," he said. "Your mother believed you to be a good person, Danni."

"Everyone keeps telling me that," she replied. "I still don't know if I feel it."

The Doctor listened to his wife and her friend talk, never interrupting, never correcting what she was saying. He knew, much like himself, her darkness was starting to battle with her light. He also knew that, when it came down to the wire, time and again she showed herself bigger and brighter than he could ever be. He just wanted her to see what the universe saw. He wanted her to know that, no matter what she might have done, that she still could be the person she wanted to be.

"I regret that this consultation is over," the executioner called over, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I regret it, too," Missy commented from her place on in the middle of the block.

"The sentence must now be carried out."

"Well, take a few more minutes if you like," she stated. "Knock yourself out. Actually do- do that. Knock yourself right out."

Danni's lip pulled up in derision. "Oh, do shut up," she snapped. "You brought this all on yourself."

"Don't say that, Danielle," Missy said. "You used to love me, once."

"You used to be redeemable, once," Danni snapped back. "There's no going back now, Koschei. There's no redemption for either of us now."

The Doctor blinked as, much like all of his ideas, the solution to all of his problems hit him like a lightning bolt straight to the brain. He may have come to regret his decision eventually, he may have not, but as he walked back to his place as executioner for his childhood friend, his resolve was strong.

Missy looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I am your friend," she whimpered.

He shook his head. "Makes no difference."

"I know it doesn't," she quickly agreed. "I know I'm going to die. I have to say it, the truth. Without hope. Without witness. Without reward." She sobbed lightly. "I am your friend. And I am so, so sorry. For what I've done to you. What I did to Danielle. I am sorry."

And, with that statement, the Doctor pulled the lever, sending energy coursing through Missy's body, and setting them off onto a brand-new path.