For creative_muses: "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wild
Martha was gone. Gone as…well, something that was gone. There was a bit of a chance she might come back, there was hope. But for now, at the moment, it was better to consider the fact that she was gone, rather than the chance that she might return. That way it wouldn’t hurt quite so much if she didn’t.
Or at least, that’s what he was telling himself.
There was, of course, someone new, as there always is. A true part-timer this time, not like the temporary companion Martha was. He had always known deep down that Martha would stay, this one he was almost certain wouldn’t. Not because of any weakness, of course, it was her strength that led him to the decision. Earth needed her, for some reason, and he wasn’t about to tear her away.
“Do you do this a lot?” she asked, her blond hair flipping dramatically in the wind as she turned to look at him. She was thin, dressed in dark coloured clothes with what appeared to be a short wooden stake strapped to her belt. At first glance, apart from the stake, she appeared to be nothing more than your average early twenties female, but something in her eyes had managed to convince him she wasn’t.
“I don’t make a habit of it,” he replied, looking back at the scene in front of him. They were standing in front of a window, coloured lights lining the frame. It was Christmastime, though the air around them was warm and breezy. No snow touched the ground. Behind the window was a simple living room, decorated for the occasion with a medium sized, brightly lit, Christmas tree in the corner and a few stockings underneath a staircase. A woman in her late thirties sat on the floor, surrounded in wrapping paper, as a young girl wearing a blue blanket fashioned as a cape ran around her making “Fwoosh” sounds.
“Look at me mommy!” the girl yelled excitedly as she leapt over a wrapped present, “Power Girl saves Christmas!”
“I’ll bet she does,” her mother replied, laughing. The Doctor grinned.
“Power Girl saves Christmas,” he repeated, “Nice,”
“What do you want?” the young woman next to him said defensively, “I was six years old,”
“Six years old and already you were saving Christmas. Quite the achiever,” He turned to look at her, putting on a rather cheeky-looking expression, and realized she wasn’t smiling. Her eyes were far away, watching attentively as the little girl whizzed around the room in her blue cape, contemplating something he wasn’t entirely sure he should ask about. He turned back to the window. “Is that your mother?”
“Yep,” she replied, “that’s my mom,”
“Where’s your father?”
“Don’t know,”
“Oh,” he stopped. He had hit another nerve. He had known this woman was interesting from the moment she had given her name. “Buffy Summers” was what she was apparently called which, according to her, wasn’t short for anything. He had been knocked unconscious by some strange red creature while on a visit to Scotland, and just before everything went dark, had seen her lunge towards the creature with some sort of indeterminable weapon just before it disappeared. When he woke up, it was just her, no creature, no danger, just her. She had saved his life, she told him, though she refused to tell him how, and in return he offered her a trip. One trip, into the past, whereever she wanted, which apparently was this.
Christmas Eve, 1987. Los Angeles, California.
“Is it like you remembered?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, “It’s nothing like it…Dawn’s not here.”
“Dawn?”
“My sister,” she said, “sort of…it’s not really important,” She looked back at the house, her expression unreadable. She was a puzzle, more so than he was entirely used to, and it unnerved him a bit, but at the same time drew him in. He looked in at the family scene in front of them. Presents, lights, Christmas music playing in the background, it was all so normal, so average, so…human. It was something he could never expect to comprehend entirely, and was thus something he was not particularly fond of.
So why was he here?
“I read this book once,” said Buffy quietly, suddenly, “Or at least…I saw the movie, about this guy, Scrooge…”
“A Christmas Carol?”
“Yeah,” she blushed, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure you’d heard of it, being an alien, I guess…”
“You’d be surprised,” he said, “I’ve been around a while, seen a few things, met a few people, read a few books, I know a lot of things,”
“Good point,”
“So what about ‘A Christmas Carol’?”
“Well it’s just…” she sighed, “You know the story, right? This mean, evil guy meets up with these three ghosts and turns all good, and everything’s happy. One of them shows him his past, and he stands there watching himself acting totally different, completely innocent, before he knew what would happen. Before he knew how different he was about to be, before he knew how much everything was about to change,”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” said the Doctor.
“Yeah, it is. For me, at least. But, I get the feeling you do this a lot, like you’re used to it. You’re sort of like the Ghost of Christmas Past, in a way, showing me my life before all hell broke loose.”
“I suppose I am,” said the Doctor quietly, not meeting her eyes, “I suppose I am.” There was a pause, the warm breeze the only sound in the night air. The Doctor sighed, “We can’t stay much longer,”
“Why not?”
“You know,” he said, “Laws of time and all that, paradoxes, all sorts of things that could happen when two of the same person are too close for too long.”
“Oh…um, ok,” said Buffy, probably not entirely comprehending. There was another pause, another breeze, another few moments of watching herself before she broke her own silence. “I kill vampires,” she said, suddenly.
“Ah,” said the Doctor, “That would explain the stake,”
“Yeah…do you believe me?”
“Of course I do,”
“Why?”
“Because you have no reason to lie to me,” replied the Doctor, “plus, I’m one to talk about being unbelievable, alien from another planet, two hearts, travels around in a ship shaped like a police box.,”
“Good point,” she took a deep breath, “What is it that you exactly do, anyway? Is flying around in a blue box it, or is there more?”
“That’s pretty much it,” he replied, “I travel, I meet people, I see things, all that stuff,”
“You meet people?”
“Yes,”
“People like me?”
“Yes,”
“And what happens after that? After you meet me and show me my past, after you bring me home again, where do you go? What do you do next?”
“I just…” he sighed, not entirely sure what to say, “I just keep going, I suppose. I just move on, find a new place to visit, a new book to read, a new person to meet, a new thing to see, I just…keep going.”
“Do you ever stay in one place for very long?”
“No,”
“So you, like, pop up somewhere, do something like this, and then you leave to pop up somewhere else. You’re there for a second and then you’re gone,”
“Yep,”
“Like a ghost,” The Doctor sighed.
“We should go back now,” he said, “We’ve been here too long already,”
“Whatever you say,” said Buffy, walking past him towards the TARDIS, “Spirit.” The Doctor sighed, and rolled his eyes. He started to follow her, but she stopped, and turned back around.
“Just one more second,” she said, “please,” the Doctor nodded and the two once more stood in front of the window, watching the little girl and her mother.
“What happens to her?” the Doctor said, off-hand, after a moment, “Is she…”
“You should know,” replied Buffy, giving the Doctor a look he knew extremely well, a look of pain, a look of loss, and most importantly, the look of someone knowing that someone else is well and truly gone.
“Let’s go,” said the Doctor, “no one should spent Christmas this unhappy,”
“Thank you,”
“It was my pleasure.” He grinned, and led her back to the TARDIS, back to the present.
Muse: The Doctor (Ten)/Buffy Summers
Fandom: Doctor Who/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Word Count: 1,378
Or at least, that’s what he was telling himself.
There was, of course, someone new, as there always is. A true part-timer this time, not like the temporary companion Martha was. He had always known deep down that Martha would stay, this one he was almost certain wouldn’t. Not because of any weakness, of course, it was her strength that led him to the decision. Earth needed her, for some reason, and he wasn’t about to tear her away.
“Do you do this a lot?” she asked, her blond hair flipping dramatically in the wind as she turned to look at him. She was thin, dressed in dark coloured clothes with what appeared to be a short wooden stake strapped to her belt. At first glance, apart from the stake, she appeared to be nothing more than your average early twenties female, but something in her eyes had managed to convince him she wasn’t.
“I don’t make a habit of it,” he replied, looking back at the scene in front of him. They were standing in front of a window, coloured lights lining the frame. It was Christmastime, though the air around them was warm and breezy. No snow touched the ground. Behind the window was a simple living room, decorated for the occasion with a medium sized, brightly lit, Christmas tree in the corner and a few stockings underneath a staircase. A woman in her late thirties sat on the floor, surrounded in wrapping paper, as a young girl wearing a blue blanket fashioned as a cape ran around her making “Fwoosh” sounds.
“Look at me mommy!” the girl yelled excitedly as she leapt over a wrapped present, “Power Girl saves Christmas!”
“I’ll bet she does,” her mother replied, laughing. The Doctor grinned.
“Power Girl saves Christmas,” he repeated, “Nice,”
“What do you want?” the young woman next to him said defensively, “I was six years old,”
“Six years old and already you were saving Christmas. Quite the achiever,” He turned to look at her, putting on a rather cheeky-looking expression, and realized she wasn’t smiling. Her eyes were far away, watching attentively as the little girl whizzed around the room in her blue cape, contemplating something he wasn’t entirely sure he should ask about. He turned back to the window. “Is that your mother?”
“Yep,” she replied, “that’s my mom,”
“Where’s your father?”
“Don’t know,”
“Oh,” he stopped. He had hit another nerve. He had known this woman was interesting from the moment she had given her name. “Buffy Summers” was what she was apparently called which, according to her, wasn’t short for anything. He had been knocked unconscious by some strange red creature while on a visit to Scotland, and just before everything went dark, had seen her lunge towards the creature with some sort of indeterminable weapon just before it disappeared. When he woke up, it was just her, no creature, no danger, just her. She had saved his life, she told him, though she refused to tell him how, and in return he offered her a trip. One trip, into the past, whereever she wanted, which apparently was this.
Christmas Eve, 1987. Los Angeles, California.
“Is it like you remembered?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, “It’s nothing like it…Dawn’s not here.”
“Dawn?”
“My sister,” she said, “sort of…it’s not really important,” She looked back at the house, her expression unreadable. She was a puzzle, more so than he was entirely used to, and it unnerved him a bit, but at the same time drew him in. He looked in at the family scene in front of them. Presents, lights, Christmas music playing in the background, it was all so normal, so average, so…human. It was something he could never expect to comprehend entirely, and was thus something he was not particularly fond of.
So why was he here?
“I read this book once,” said Buffy quietly, suddenly, “Or at least…I saw the movie, about this guy, Scrooge…”
“A Christmas Carol?”
“Yeah,” she blushed, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure you’d heard of it, being an alien, I guess…”
“You’d be surprised,” he said, “I’ve been around a while, seen a few things, met a few people, read a few books, I know a lot of things,”
“Good point,”
“So what about ‘A Christmas Carol’?”
“Well it’s just…” she sighed, “You know the story, right? This mean, evil guy meets up with these three ghosts and turns all good, and everything’s happy. One of them shows him his past, and he stands there watching himself acting totally different, completely innocent, before he knew what would happen. Before he knew how different he was about to be, before he knew how much everything was about to change,”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” said the Doctor.
“Yeah, it is. For me, at least. But, I get the feeling you do this a lot, like you’re used to it. You’re sort of like the Ghost of Christmas Past, in a way, showing me my life before all hell broke loose.”
“I suppose I am,” said the Doctor quietly, not meeting her eyes, “I suppose I am.” There was a pause, the warm breeze the only sound in the night air. The Doctor sighed, “We can’t stay much longer,”
“Why not?”
“You know,” he said, “Laws of time and all that, paradoxes, all sorts of things that could happen when two of the same person are too close for too long.”
“Oh…um, ok,” said Buffy, probably not entirely comprehending. There was another pause, another breeze, another few moments of watching herself before she broke her own silence. “I kill vampires,” she said, suddenly.
“Ah,” said the Doctor, “That would explain the stake,”
“Yeah…do you believe me?”
“Of course I do,”
“Why?”
“Because you have no reason to lie to me,” replied the Doctor, “plus, I’m one to talk about being unbelievable, alien from another planet, two hearts, travels around in a ship shaped like a police box.,”
“Good point,” she took a deep breath, “What is it that you exactly do, anyway? Is flying around in a blue box it, or is there more?”
“That’s pretty much it,” he replied, “I travel, I meet people, I see things, all that stuff,”
“You meet people?”
“Yes,”
“People like me?”
“Yes,”
“And what happens after that? After you meet me and show me my past, after you bring me home again, where do you go? What do you do next?”
“I just…” he sighed, not entirely sure what to say, “I just keep going, I suppose. I just move on, find a new place to visit, a new book to read, a new person to meet, a new thing to see, I just…keep going.”
“Do you ever stay in one place for very long?”
“No,”
“So you, like, pop up somewhere, do something like this, and then you leave to pop up somewhere else. You’re there for a second and then you’re gone,”
“Yep,”
“Like a ghost,” The Doctor sighed.
“We should go back now,” he said, “We’ve been here too long already,”
“Whatever you say,” said Buffy, walking past him towards the TARDIS, “Spirit.” The Doctor sighed, and rolled his eyes. He started to follow her, but she stopped, and turned back around.
“Just one more second,” she said, “please,” the Doctor nodded and the two once more stood in front of the window, watching the little girl and her mother.
“What happens to her?” the Doctor said, off-hand, after a moment, “Is she…”
“You should know,” replied Buffy, giving the Doctor a look he knew extremely well, a look of pain, a look of loss, and most importantly, the look of someone knowing that someone else is well and truly gone.
“Let’s go,” said the Doctor, “no one should spent Christmas this unhappy,”
“Thank you,”
“It was my pleasure.” He grinned, and led her back to the TARDIS, back to the present.
Muse: The Doctor (Ten)/Buffy Summers
Fandom: Doctor Who/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Word Count: 1,378