Doctor Who: Deserted (part 01)
Title: Deserted (part 01)
Author: percontata
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: "Handy," The Doctor, Rose
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 660
Warnings: Spoilers for S04E13.
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I'm just having fun with them. Not responsible for underage readers.
Author's note: I mentioned over in stellar_dust's journal that I wanted to see a particular fic premise written. And so, due to lack of other things to occupy me at work, this came to be.
Summary: Just because you want something to happen doesn't mean that the universe conveniently drops into place that way.
The TARDIS cannot travel between parallel universes.
This one thought screamed through his head as they stood on the shores of Bad Wolf Bay, resounding as an alarm, and in a single moment of blind panic, he realized how human he truly had become. That fear could grip him so readily--because he was weak now, just like them, just another fixture in time--and he realized that he was powerless to do anything but stand there and wait for the inevitable. Because he was not the true Doctor anymore. Part Time Lord, part human; the untouchable become fragile, unable to shield himself for fear of splintering into a million shards.
He would be left there, on the shores of this world, while everyone around him vanished. Rose and Jackie--they would be towed along by the threads of the universe mending itself, weaving them back into place as the gaps filled themselves. But he had no fixed place in that other world, so why would it conveniently pull him along in its wake? It wouldn't, he knew it wouldn't, and all he wanted to know was why. Why was his other self doing this? Was it just some vain hope that he would be caught in the backwash of the mending process? Or had he truly convinced himself into believing that it would happen, that it was undeniable, merely because he needed it to be?
Yes, he was needed to go away. That was what he would have done, in any case. Clean up the mess he'd left behind. Just as he'd done with the Daleks.
Funny, how his other self couldn't see that. Or maybe he could, and couldn't bear to acknowledge it.
And even with the terror and bitterness coursing through him, part of him wanted to believe he would be pulled along. At least then he would be with Rose. He could have the one thing he could never, ever have hoped for as a full Time Lord. Even if he was not her Doctor--and he would not delude himself into thinking otherwise, not even to spare his single heart the pain--he was still the Doctor. She could see that, and maybe even accept it over time as she saw him age and remain by her side.
But the truth would not rest quietly in him, and it begged him to cry out, please, please, you can't leave me here, you can't do this, this is wrong, wrong, please--but no sound passed through unmoving lips. All he could do was grip Rose's hand even more tightly as the TARDIS vanished.
Let her think it was meant to comfort her, when it was the only thing grounding him and keeping him from screaming.
Long moments passed, silent but for the whisper of sea on sand, but then it was broken with a question. "You're not really coming with me, are you?"
It hurt him to look at her, and he couldn't tell which pain was worse. This, or the terror of reality reminding him with every solitary heartbeat, or the knowledge that he had been abandoned.
He'd never truly understood it before, abandonment, but he thought he did now. When they tell him how much it hurts to be left behind, not so much in their words as in every step they take to come back to him--but now he knew. Now, he could feel it just as sharply as they ever did.
It felt like death.
"I'm so...so sorry."
She looked at him, searching for something in his eyes--for what, he was unsure--before saying quietly, "So am I."
She pulled him close for a final kiss, a final farewell, and even as he felt her tears against his skin, he also felt the world shift around them.
And then, she and Jackie were gone.
And he was left standing there, alone, just as he knew he would be.
Where do I go from here?
next
Author: percontata
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: "Handy," The Doctor, Rose
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 660
Warnings: Spoilers for S04E13.
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I'm just having fun with them. Not responsible for underage readers.
Author's note: I mentioned over in stellar_dust's journal that I wanted to see a particular fic premise written. And so, due to lack of other things to occupy me at work, this came to be.
Summary: Just because you want something to happen doesn't mean that the universe conveniently drops into place that way.
The TARDIS cannot travel between parallel universes.
This one thought screamed through his head as they stood on the shores of Bad Wolf Bay, resounding as an alarm, and in a single moment of blind panic, he realized how human he truly had become. That fear could grip him so readily--because he was weak now, just like them, just another fixture in time--and he realized that he was powerless to do anything but stand there and wait for the inevitable. Because he was not the true Doctor anymore. Part Time Lord, part human; the untouchable become fragile, unable to shield himself for fear of splintering into a million shards.
He would be left there, on the shores of this world, while everyone around him vanished. Rose and Jackie--they would be towed along by the threads of the universe mending itself, weaving them back into place as the gaps filled themselves. But he had no fixed place in that other world, so why would it conveniently pull him along in its wake? It wouldn't, he knew it wouldn't, and all he wanted to know was why. Why was his other self doing this? Was it just some vain hope that he would be caught in the backwash of the mending process? Or had he truly convinced himself into believing that it would happen, that it was undeniable, merely because he needed it to be?
Yes, he was needed to go away. That was what he would have done, in any case. Clean up the mess he'd left behind. Just as he'd done with the Daleks.
Funny, how his other self couldn't see that. Or maybe he could, and couldn't bear to acknowledge it.
And even with the terror and bitterness coursing through him, part of him wanted to believe he would be pulled along. At least then he would be with Rose. He could have the one thing he could never, ever have hoped for as a full Time Lord. Even if he was not her Doctor--and he would not delude himself into thinking otherwise, not even to spare his single heart the pain--he was still the Doctor. She could see that, and maybe even accept it over time as she saw him age and remain by her side.
But the truth would not rest quietly in him, and it begged him to cry out, please, please, you can't leave me here, you can't do this, this is wrong, wrong, please--but no sound passed through unmoving lips. All he could do was grip Rose's hand even more tightly as the TARDIS vanished.
Let her think it was meant to comfort her, when it was the only thing grounding him and keeping him from screaming.
Long moments passed, silent but for the whisper of sea on sand, but then it was broken with a question. "You're not really coming with me, are you?"
It hurt him to look at her, and he couldn't tell which pain was worse. This, or the terror of reality reminding him with every solitary heartbeat, or the knowledge that he had been abandoned.
He'd never truly understood it before, abandonment, but he thought he did now. When they tell him how much it hurts to be left behind, not so much in their words as in every step they take to come back to him--but now he knew. Now, he could feel it just as sharply as they ever did.
It felt like death.
"I'm so...so sorry."
She looked at him, searching for something in his eyes--for what, he was unsure--before saying quietly, "So am I."
She pulled him close for a final kiss, a final farewell, and even as he felt her tears against his skin, he also felt the world shift around them.
And then, she and Jackie were gone.
And he was left standing there, alone, just as he knew he would be.
Where do I go from here?
next