010: It Won't Be Long Before I Disturb You in the Dark [Accidental Visual]
It was impossible to travel on the TARDIS without encountering death and, like the rest of the prisoners in Taxon, Martha Jones had her fair share of ghosts. The majority of her ghosts, however, came from a year that most of her world had forgotten had happened.
She still dreamed of the year that she had spent travelling the planet, sowing the seeds for the Master’s defeat. Although she and the Doctor had saved the world in the end, it was impossible to forget how close they’d come to defeat and how much the human race had suffered during the fight. Cities had fallen and countries had burned. Hope had been all but lost. But she’d walked on and she’d told her story and, in the end, that had been enough. She’d saved the world using nothing but words.
While she slept, the city conjured up the worst ghosts of all. She woke up with a start, knocking her tablet off her bedside table, to find them waiting for her.
The Doctor - her Doctor, with his pinstriped suit and tousled hair and warm eyes - was on his knees, bound and gagged. The Master stood tall, the laser screwdriver on one hand and an arrogant smile on his face.
Wakey wakey, Doctor Jones.
“You’re not here. I know you’re not here. You’re just a dream.”
Am I? What would your fiancé say if he knew you were dreaming out me?
She decided not to dignify that with a response, but there was something else that she needed to say.
“I’m not scared of you, Saxon. I’ve stopped you once. I can do it again.”
Is that what you think? That you stopped me? The ghost of the Time Lord laughed. What makes you think that I didn’t plan for my death? What makes you think that I’m not waiting to come back?
“You’re not the sort of person to plan for defeat. You were so convinced that you’d broken the human race and we still rose up to stop you.”
I’m going to make the Doctor watch when I kill you, he said, almost conversationally. Once I’ve finished with your family. You’re going to scream, Martha Jones. You’re going to scream and you’re going to die knowing that the Doctor - your precious, precious Doctor - failed you again.
And then he was gone. They were both gone. Martha, breathing heavily, stared around her room, trying to work out what had been a dream and what had been caused by the city itself.
She still dreamed of the year that she had spent travelling the planet, sowing the seeds for the Master’s defeat. Although she and the Doctor had saved the world in the end, it was impossible to forget how close they’d come to defeat and how much the human race had suffered during the fight. Cities had fallen and countries had burned. Hope had been all but lost. But she’d walked on and she’d told her story and, in the end, that had been enough. She’d saved the world using nothing but words.
While she slept, the city conjured up the worst ghosts of all. She woke up with a start, knocking her tablet off her bedside table, to find them waiting for her.
The Doctor - her Doctor, with his pinstriped suit and tousled hair and warm eyes - was on his knees, bound and gagged. The Master stood tall, the laser screwdriver on one hand and an arrogant smile on his face.
Wakey wakey, Doctor Jones.
“You’re not here. I know you’re not here. You’re just a dream.”
Am I? What would your fiancé say if he knew you were dreaming out me?
She decided not to dignify that with a response, but there was something else that she needed to say.
“I’m not scared of you, Saxon. I’ve stopped you once. I can do it again.”
Is that what you think? That you stopped me? The ghost of the Time Lord laughed. What makes you think that I didn’t plan for my death? What makes you think that I’m not waiting to come back?
“You’re not the sort of person to plan for defeat. You were so convinced that you’d broken the human race and we still rose up to stop you.”
I’m going to make the Doctor watch when I kill you, he said, almost conversationally. Once I’ve finished with your family. You’re going to scream, Martha Jones. You’re going to scream and you’re going to die knowing that the Doctor - your precious, precious Doctor - failed you again.
And then he was gone. They were both gone. Martha, breathing heavily, stared around her room, trying to work out what had been a dream and what had been caused by the city itself.