Not a Monster
Not a Monster, Nine/Rose, PG, "I know what Halloween is. It's from my bloody planet." She would have thumped him with a pillow if it wouldn't have hurt her to do it. "What's it doing in a fairytale?" 4515 words
Not a Monster
“How are you feeling today, Rose?” the Doctor asked setting a small breakfast tray down on her nightstand.
“Still sore,” she said with a soft sniffle. “But it doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore.”
“That’s to be expected. Let me check your ribs.” He tugged her blankets down and slowly flipped up her camisole, careful not to hurt her. The Doctor loosened the bandage around her middle and noted that the bruising was green and yellow today instead of the lurid blues and purples of the two days previous, or even the nasty browns of yesterday. He pushed gently and Rose gave out a soft yelp. “Sorry. Still tender.” He closed up the bandage that held her bruised ribs firm.
“Could have told you that without you poking.”
“I think another day or two in bed should do it.” His fingers left her skin and he pulled her camisole back down and helped her move into a different position. “Anything else I can do to make you more comfortable?”
“Help me to the loo?” she asked.
He did so, waiting patiently outside the door for her and then practically carrying her back to bed because the short trip had made her so exhausted. When she was settled she slowly ate her breakfast. It was just toast and tea laced with narcotics, but even eating that much was a chore.
“You want anything else?” he asked when she finished.
“Not food.”
“Then what?”
“Tell me,” Rose said, “a story.”
“What?” He looked surprised.
“I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve been stuck in bed for a couple of days and I can’t focus enough to read with all the painkillers and I don’t dare cry or laugh too hard so the telly and Jack are both out. So, tell me a story.”
“What kind of story?” the Doctor asked, watching her with interest, as her beautiful amber eyes looked up at him.
“A fairy story,” she said.
“Those don’t tend to end well.”
“Then make one up that does. You’re the Doctor. Disneyfy it.”
“That’s not a word.”
“Don’t care.”
He paused for a moment and thought, then smiled and settled back on the bed beside her. She snuggled into his arms.
“Once upon a time there was a princess.”
“What type of princess?” Rose interrupted.
“Your garden variety princess,” said the Doctor.
“Why not a castle variety princess?” Rose asked.
“Because she’s made for a different sort of life.”
“Okay,” Rose allowed. “Tell me what she was wearing,” she said.
“A dress. A long, white, fitted dress with lots of lace on it.”
“In the garden? She’d get awfully dirty.”
“Well, that’s the point. She was protesting having to dress like a princess. Anyway, she had pretty brown eyes with flecks of green and yellow and long, flowing brown hair,” he said.
“Why not gold?” Rose pouted.
“Fine, she was a blonde,” he continued impatiently. “But only because it came out of a bottle.”
“Oi. And that’s not very fairytale-ish.”
“Lemon juice?”
“I can allow that.”
He grinned. “Now the princess was young. About your age. Old enough to be considered an adult by the laws of the land, but still a teenager, and rather incorrigible. One might even say she was jeopardy friendly.”
“I think I like her already.”
“You would.” Rose could hear the smile in his voice.
“Does she have a name?” Rose asked.
“Most people do,” he replied flippantly.
“Not all people. You’re called Doctor, but that’s not your name.”
“Do you want to hear the story or not?” he asked impatiently.
“I do.”
“Her name was…Aster.” Rose snorted. “One day her mother told her that she would have to marry a prince from a neighboring kingdom. She was an only child, you see, her father having died when she was small. There were no brothers to grow up to be king and as these things sometimes go, she couldn’t take the throne without being married.”
“Why not?” demanded Rose.
“Because back then and on this planet it wasn’t done. A widowed queen could rule, but she had to be married when she took the throne.”
“Why didn’t the queen just change the laws?” Rose asked.
“Because she was bored with politics and she wanted a grandbaby.”
“Ugh,” said Rose. “Who wants a kid at nineteen? I’ll bet Aster was none too happy with that.”
“No, she wasn’t. She didn’t want an arranged marriage and she didn’t want to rule. She would have been far, far happier to not have been born a princess at all, because although she wanted a bit of romance in her life, she wanted to travel and see the world and maybe change it for the better. And she wanted to do it without being tied to some bloke back home.”
“Can’t blame her for that,” Rose said snuggling closer to the Doctor and he eased an arm around her and began to play with her hair.
“Halloween-.”
“What?”
“Halloween. You know, big candy holiday, lots of pumpkins carved with scary faces to chase away the evil spirits, lit with candles?”
“I know what Halloween is. It’s from my bloody planet.” She would have thumped him with a pillow if it wouldn’t have hurt her to do it. “What’s it doing in a fairytale?”
“Earth colony. They liked their celebrations. And the Jackolanti of Pumpkimundis may beg to differ on whether or not Halloween actually evolved on Earth or their planet.”
“You’re kidding me,” Rose said in disbelief.
“I’ll take you there sometime and you can judge for yourself. May I continue?” he asked long-sufferingly.
“You may,” she granted in a regal voice.
“So, Halloween was fast approaching and there was to be a masquerade ball where she was to meet three princes and hopefully decide on one to marry. Aster decided that she was going to run away that night. She’d made a costume in secret from the scraps of fabric left over from the outfits the ladies of the court had made and she hid it in a room off the antechamber the dance was to be held in. Something she could easily slip into after she’d been seen in her official costume. Something no one would recognize her in.”
“Smart girl.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“So what happened? Did the prince come and was he the man of her dreams?” Rose asked with a little yawn. The narcotic tea was starting to have its intended effect.
“Well, like I said, there were three princes. The first prince came and although he was dashing and charming and handsome-.”
“Oh? What’d he look like?” Rose asked.
“She couldn’t see his whole face because he was wearing a mask over his eyes, but he had black hair, blue eyes, a jaw that could cut glass, a cleft chin and dimples,” said the Doctor.
“Was he wearing leather pants?”
“Could’ve been.”
“You’re modeling him after Captain Jack, aren’t you?” she asked with a snort.
“Maybe.”
Rose giggled then held her ribs. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. Go on.”
“So R-Aster danced with the prince and she made polite small talk and got to know him a little bit, and even flirted-.”
“She didn’t!” Rose said sounding scandalized.
“She did. But she hadn’t met the hero of the story yet so her behavior can be excused. So she flirted quite blatantly, but it turned out that while the Cap-while the prince was a genuinely good man, he was just too flash and experienced for her taste. Our princess wanted someone solid and intelligent and even more adventurous. She wanted a way out of her life, not a way further into it. She wanted-.”
“A man with bigger-.”
“Rose-.”
“Ears?”
“Oi, who’s telling this story, then?” he asked.
He didn’t go on until she mumbled, “You are.”
“When the second prince was introduced she found she enjoyed his company. He was…comfortable. She felt as if she’d grown up with him and she knew immediately that they could be good friends and maybe if there wasn’t something better out there, a life with him wouldn’t be so awful. Although he’d gotten a reputation in his youth of being somewhat of an idiot, he perhaps wasn’t as bad as some people had made him out to be. He was loyal and forthright and faithful and true-.”
“Mickey’s not a dog or a scout,” Rose interrupted dryly.
“Who says this is Rickey?” he asked. “Prince number two would be good in a crisis, but Aster just couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with him. Not when there was a whole world to see.”
“And the third prince? Does he travel in time?” she teased.
“No,” he said. “The third prince was a pretty boy who’d gotten in over his head on more than one occasion. For a boy who was a veritable genius he did a lot of stupid things. Rose couldn’t take him seriously when she found out the helmet stuck on his head wasn’t part of his costume, but something he’d had magically adhered there because he thought it made him look sharp.”
“You just said Rose,” she sing-songed with a grin. “And don’t think I don’t recognize Adam Mitchell when I hear about him.”
“Aster,” he corrected hastily. “Aster thought he was an idiot. It didn’t take her long at all to dismiss him outright. So, having decided that none of the princes were worth giving up her life for, Aster managed to excuse herself and made her way into the side room and quickly changed out of her costume. She put on two sets of clothes, changed into good walking boots, then pulled the second costume on over it. She’d packed every pocket she had with food or coins and she made them as flat as possible. She pulled a red velvet cape up over her locks and put on a silver eye mask. Carefully and quietly she slipped out of the ball.”
The Doctor took a breath. “She stopped in shock as she finished crossing the drawbridge. She had forgotten the tradition of her people of filling the entire courtyard with carved and candlelit jack-o-lanterns to keep away the evil spirits. Everywhere she looked a sea of orange and yellow faces confronted her. Dressed as she was in such bulky garments, the only paths allowed to her were the one straight through the main entry, which would be guarded, or around to the back side of the castle and out into the woods.” The Doctor stopped, his tone ominous.
“What did she do?”
“Well, she couldn’t go out the front. If there was any chance the guards would recognize her, an alarm might be sounded. But the woods…all her life she’d been afraid of the woods. She’d been told stories of things that happened in those woods, of creatures that lived there, fantastical creatures of myth and legend. But Aster, being the strong-willed young lady that she was, decided she wasn’t going to let a few stories stop her from escaping the life she didn’t want to live. So she took a few deep breaths and made her way into the forest, dropping the silver mask on the edge, leaving it behind.
“She walked on, keeping the warm red cloak tight about her body, but eventually the trees were so closely packed she could no longer see the stars and the moons that had been lighting her path. She decided to climb a tree and go to sleep.”
“Probably safer up there,” Rose said.
“That’s what she thought. So wrapped in her cape she settled into the crook of a tree and went to sleep. When morning came she ate some of the bread and hard cheese she’d secreted in her pockets and drank some water out of a water skin before climbing down to the ground. The light of day let her see something she couldn’t have seen in the dim light from the night sky. On the trees in front of her, spelled out letter by letter was a word, just one word…beware.”
“Beware of what?”
“Well, Aster didn’t know, but being the jeopardy friendly young woman that she was, it didn’t even occur to her to scuttle back home to safety. No, our dear Aster decided that she was going to find out just exactly what there was to beware of.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Now there was a legend on her planet of a horrible beast that lived in the forest. It had the tail of a scorpion and the wings of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the head of an elephant. It was called the gryphera, but it hadn’t been sighted in nearly thirty years, so Aster thought nothing of it. Or rather, the thought flitted through her head, but then flitted right back out again. It was a fairy story. It couldn’t possibly exist,” he said.
“But it did.”
“Of course it did, as Aster soon found out. She moved on into the forest, deeper and deeper, and as nothing happened she became sure that the warning on the trees was nothing, that the word beware was a remnant of older times and that there was nothing to fear. She wasn’t fearful by nature to begin with and so she pressed on, eager to see what was on the other side of the woods. She wanted to see the world. She wasn’t going to let an old story get in the way of that.”
The Doctor paused for a moment then reached over and picked up Rose’s hand. “Oh, is it about to get scary?” Rose asked.
“Hush. Aster walked for several hours and then sat down on a felled tree to eat her lunch. She had just finished up some dried fruit and nuts when a horrible cry echoed through the forest all around her. It bounced from tree to tree and she couldn’t determine which direction it was coming from. She had no idea what way she should go in to move away from it, but she knew she couldn’t just sit there frozen doing nothing.
“She walked in one direction for a little while, but when the roars became louder she turned and headed in a slightly different direction, but still the sounds seemed to echo even more violently. No matter which way she chose to go, it was like the creature was in her path, so she decided she would stop trying to avoid it and face it head on.”
“She’s not going to get eaten, is she?” Rose demanded.
“You said to Disneyfy it,” the Doctor reminded her.
“But you didn’t agree that you would.”
“No, I didn’t. Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?”
“Fine,” Rose said but there was definite sulkiness in her voice. She would have crossed her arms over her chest if her ribs hadn’t ached so much.
“Covering her ears, Aster continued forward and eventually she stumbled on a clearing. What she saw there absolutely terrified her. It was indeed the creature of legend, the gryphera, that had been making all that terrible noise. She stood quaking in her boots for several seconds before her eyes began to focus and take on the true sight before her gaze. Yes, it was a creature that could be mistaken for a monster, with its long claws and thrashing tail, but she realized that its cries were ones of terror and fear and pain when she noticed the pool of bright red blood on the forest floor. A long, metal spike stuck out of its ribcage.”
“Oh, the poor thing,” said Rose sympathetically. “It’s hurt. That’s why it’s crying out so horribly.”
“Indeed. Aster’s fear was shoved to the background. She couldn’t bear the agony the monster was in. She wondered if there was anything that she could do to help save him. Every instinct in her was telling her to run away, but her heart told her that she might be able to save the animal. She knew better than to approach a thrashing creature without making sure it saw her first so she walked around to the front of it where she could look him in the eyes and what she saw there startled her, for his eyes were as human as her own.”
Rose gasped. “He’s enchanted!”
“Will you let me tell it my way?” he asked.
“Sorry. Not so good at keeping quiet, me,” she said.
“Understatement.”
“Go on. I want to know what happens.”
“She got his attention and for a moment the gryphera just gaped at her before it let out a violent snarling sound. Aster held her ground until the animal put down his head and just looked at her. She could see tears in his steely blue eyes.
“‘Hello,’ she said with dignity. ‘I’m Aster. I’d like to try to help you if I can.’
“The gryphera’s head snapped around and his eyes focused soulfully on her. It had been decades since anyone had treated him as anything other than a monster. Now this young girl in front of him was showing him great compassion,” the Doctor said.
“‘That’s going to have to come out,’ she said. ‘And I can pack the wound with fabric, but it’s going to hurt. Do you think…do you think you can lay still and let me fix you?’
“The scorpion tail swept back and forth on the ground, its stinger prominent and dripping with poison, before it laid flat again. The gryphera made a soft, almost surprised sound deep in its throat. He stretched out his long trunk towards her and ever so gently wrapped it around her, picking her up and bringing her closer to his eyes. Aster shook with fear, but showed no other outward sign of her predicament. She was deposited lightly on the ground and when the animal made no move to hurt her she reached out a hand.
“‘You understand me, don’t you?’ she asked, patting him. The gryphera blinked slowly and made another soft sound. ‘Okay, let me go and I’ll go pull that thing out. You cry out as much as you need to, just…keep that tail and those claws away from me, okay?’ He blinked again and she moved in front of him.
“It took Aster nearly fifteen minutes to work the long spear out of his side,” the Doctor said. “The gryphera made some awful sounds and Aster was nearly crying at his pain by the time she was done. She used the last of her water to clean out the wound and then tore her costume to shreds and packed the wound with it. Carefully she used long strips tied together to hold the packing in place. She approached his head again and saw that he was sleeping. He’d passed out from the pain. She picked up the spear and threw it as far away from them as she could and then she sat down to wait.”
“Shouldn’t she have run away? It would have been the perfect time to get away from him,” Rose said.
“Well, like most jeopardy friendly young ladies, she wasn’t thinking with her head. She was thinking with her heart. So she stayed and she waited until the animal woke up again. When he did, he sprang to his feet and his sides began to heave. The bandage came off and Rose realized-.”
“Aster,” Rose corrected again with another giggle.
“Aster realized that the wound had healed. This was surely an enchanted creature.”
“Called it!” Rose said gleefully.
“The monster snarled at her and stalked towards her, but Aster held her ground. She wasn’t about to be scared off by some bluster.”
“‘Oh, stop it,’ she said bravely. ‘I took care of you and I know you’re not going to hurt me now.’
“Cheeky, isn’t she?” Rose asked.
“She is,” agreed the Doctor. “The gryphera stopped in mid-snarl and picked her up again with his trunk, bringing her to him. He deposited her onto his back and with a sudden leap that had her clutching the fur of his back, launched himself into the air. Aster held on for dear life as they flew over the woods and towards the mountain. At first she was scared, but slowly she relaxed and she watched the ground moving beneath them. She had wanted to see the world and she had to admit, as they flew off into the sunset, that this was a very nice way to do it.”
The Doctor stopped and when he didn’t resume talking Rose said impatiently, “That can’t be the end.”
“Why not? You said to Disneyfy it. I did. She saved the gryphera, he didn’t eat her, and her reward was to take a flight on his back and see the world, just like she’d always wanted.”
“But what about romance, what about happily ever after? I mean she just can’t fly around the world with a monster. People would try to kill him all the time. You can’t end it like that!” Rose protested. “You have to end the enchantment. She needs…she needs the good man that she was looking for and travel!”
“Fine,” grumbled the Doctor, “but that was a perfectly good ending.”
“Not good enough.”
“All right, all right. The gryphera flew on for several hours before at last coming to a stop outside a large cottage high on the mountaintop. Aster was very glad to be able to slide down to the ground, for it had been hours and she was in desperate need of the loo.”
“Not very romantic,” said Rose.
“But realistic,” said the Doctor. “Aster knocked on the door of the cottage and a little old lady opened the door. She looked over Aster’s shoulder and for a moment she thought the woman would scream in terror, but all she did was look back and forth between the monster and Aster.”
“‘So,’ said the old woman, ‘you’ve come to break the curse, have you?’
“‘Erm,” said Aster, “I was just hoping to use the loo. What curse is that then?’
“‘His curse,’ she said, pointing to the monster. ‘My son.’
“‘Oh, well, let me pee first and then we’ll discuss it.’”
“Again with the romance,” said Rose with a snort.
The Doctor continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Aster took care of business and then the woman invited her to sit down out in the yard and she explained the curse her son was under while the monster sat there swishing his tail.
“‘My son, Medens-.’
“Medens?” queried Rose. “What kind of name is that?”
“It means healer in Latin, if you must know.”
“Ah,” said Rose knowingly. Her hand tightened in his. He squeezed it back.
“‘My son Medens,’ said the woman, ‘was stricken by an evil wizard when he refused to marry the man’s daughter. You see, he was a bit of a romantic and always swore he’d marry for love and not position or money or…well, anything else really. He had no intention of settling down. He was a young man and he wanted to see the world. So the wizard cursed him into this shape and he can never stay still for long. If he doesn’t continue travelling he starts to die. He’s seen much of the world, but the world only sees him as a monster.’
“‘Is there a way to break the curse?’ Aster asked.
“‘I don’t know. He…sort of ate the wizard. I was never really able to figure it out. He probably knows, but since he can’t talk I can’t help him with it. I imagine falling in love might do it, but who’s going to spend time with him in that form and get to care about him?’
“‘You say he’s cursed to travel the world, never to stay in one place? I want to see the world. I could go with him. I can’t guarantee I’ll fall in love with him, or he with me, but maybe if I’m with him, people won’t be so afraid of him. If they see a girl like me travelling willingly with him, they won’t be so judgmental,’ she said. ‘It’ll make him less myth and legend and more accessible.’
“The gryphera leaped to his feet and began stalking about the yard. ‘Would you do that? For a stranger? A monster?’ the old woman asked.
“‘He only looks like a monster,’ said Aster as the beast came to a halt in front of her. She reached out and stroked a long ear and then patted his trunk. She was already partial to those features. ‘He’s not even attempted to hurt me and…well, I don’t want to go back to where I came from. What do you think, Medens?’ Aster asked. ‘Think we can be friends? See the world together?’
“Slowly Medens raised and lowered his head in a very deliberate nod. The next morning Aster mounted Medens and they flew off into the sunrise and all over the planet, from that day forward, the legends changed and people no longer viewed the gryphera as a destroyer, but as a symbol of great hope, for wherever they touched down, good things happened, villages were saved from disaster, and evil was conquered. Because one little human girl took a chance and went travelling with a monster.’”
The Doctor trailed off and Rose sighed. “What…?”
“What what?” asked the Doctor.
Rose laughed. “I’m rubbing off on you. But you can’t end it like that, either.”
“You’re very picky for an invalid,” he said.
Rose ignored him. “Was the curse ever broken? Did the…did Medens and Aster ever fall in love?”
“What do you think?”
“I think after a year together, spending all that time, and saving all those villages, that they were in love, but maybe...maybe neither one of them was ever brave enough to say it until one day Aster gently placed a kiss on Medens trunk and then he magically turned back into a man and they lived happily ever after, but continued to travel the world saving people and never settling down,” said Rose.
“Then there you go,” he said.
The Doctor held Rose as she drifted slowly towards sleep. On the edge of it she whispered, “You’re not, you know.”
“Not what.”
“A monster.”
“Never said that I was.”
“Mmm,” said Rose non-committally. She yawned. “And a year…that’s about right, isn’t it? That’s how long it’s been.”
“What?”
“A year…to fall…in love.” Her breath slowed.
“Rose?” he asked softly, but she didn’t answer him, having fallen into a drug-induced slumber. He smiled slightly. Rose was wrong of course. Or only partly right. Maybe it had taken her a year, but he had fallen in love at first sight. He gently pressed a kiss to her temple. Just like Aster with Medens, his Rose, and her love and companionship, had made him not a monster and he could only dare to hope they, too, would get their happily ever after.
Not a Monster
“How are you feeling today, Rose?” the Doctor asked setting a small breakfast tray down on her nightstand.
“Still sore,” she said with a soft sniffle. “But it doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore.”
“That’s to be expected. Let me check your ribs.” He tugged her blankets down and slowly flipped up her camisole, careful not to hurt her. The Doctor loosened the bandage around her middle and noted that the bruising was green and yellow today instead of the lurid blues and purples of the two days previous, or even the nasty browns of yesterday. He pushed gently and Rose gave out a soft yelp. “Sorry. Still tender.” He closed up the bandage that held her bruised ribs firm.
“Could have told you that without you poking.”
“I think another day or two in bed should do it.” His fingers left her skin and he pulled her camisole back down and helped her move into a different position. “Anything else I can do to make you more comfortable?”
“Help me to the loo?” she asked.
He did so, waiting patiently outside the door for her and then practically carrying her back to bed because the short trip had made her so exhausted. When she was settled she slowly ate her breakfast. It was just toast and tea laced with narcotics, but even eating that much was a chore.
“You want anything else?” he asked when she finished.
“Not food.”
“Then what?”
“Tell me,” Rose said, “a story.”
“What?” He looked surprised.
“I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve been stuck in bed for a couple of days and I can’t focus enough to read with all the painkillers and I don’t dare cry or laugh too hard so the telly and Jack are both out. So, tell me a story.”
“What kind of story?” the Doctor asked, watching her with interest, as her beautiful amber eyes looked up at him.
“A fairy story,” she said.
“Those don’t tend to end well.”
“Then make one up that does. You’re the Doctor. Disneyfy it.”
“That’s not a word.”
“Don’t care.”
He paused for a moment and thought, then smiled and settled back on the bed beside her. She snuggled into his arms.
“Once upon a time there was a princess.”
“What type of princess?” Rose interrupted.
“Your garden variety princess,” said the Doctor.
“Why not a castle variety princess?” Rose asked.
“Because she’s made for a different sort of life.”
“Okay,” Rose allowed. “Tell me what she was wearing,” she said.
“A dress. A long, white, fitted dress with lots of lace on it.”
“In the garden? She’d get awfully dirty.”
“Well, that’s the point. She was protesting having to dress like a princess. Anyway, she had pretty brown eyes with flecks of green and yellow and long, flowing brown hair,” he said.
“Why not gold?” Rose pouted.
“Fine, she was a blonde,” he continued impatiently. “But only because it came out of a bottle.”
“Oi. And that’s not very fairytale-ish.”
“Lemon juice?”
“I can allow that.”
He grinned. “Now the princess was young. About your age. Old enough to be considered an adult by the laws of the land, but still a teenager, and rather incorrigible. One might even say she was jeopardy friendly.”
“I think I like her already.”
“You would.” Rose could hear the smile in his voice.
“Does she have a name?” Rose asked.
“Most people do,” he replied flippantly.
“Not all people. You’re called Doctor, but that’s not your name.”
“Do you want to hear the story or not?” he asked impatiently.
“I do.”
“Her name was…Aster.” Rose snorted. “One day her mother told her that she would have to marry a prince from a neighboring kingdom. She was an only child, you see, her father having died when she was small. There were no brothers to grow up to be king and as these things sometimes go, she couldn’t take the throne without being married.”
“Why not?” demanded Rose.
“Because back then and on this planet it wasn’t done. A widowed queen could rule, but she had to be married when she took the throne.”
“Why didn’t the queen just change the laws?” Rose asked.
“Because she was bored with politics and she wanted a grandbaby.”
“Ugh,” said Rose. “Who wants a kid at nineteen? I’ll bet Aster was none too happy with that.”
“No, she wasn’t. She didn’t want an arranged marriage and she didn’t want to rule. She would have been far, far happier to not have been born a princess at all, because although she wanted a bit of romance in her life, she wanted to travel and see the world and maybe change it for the better. And she wanted to do it without being tied to some bloke back home.”
“Can’t blame her for that,” Rose said snuggling closer to the Doctor and he eased an arm around her and began to play with her hair.
“Halloween-.”
“What?”
“Halloween. You know, big candy holiday, lots of pumpkins carved with scary faces to chase away the evil spirits, lit with candles?”
“I know what Halloween is. It’s from my bloody planet.” She would have thumped him with a pillow if it wouldn’t have hurt her to do it. “What’s it doing in a fairytale?”
“Earth colony. They liked their celebrations. And the Jackolanti of Pumpkimundis may beg to differ on whether or not Halloween actually evolved on Earth or their planet.”
“You’re kidding me,” Rose said in disbelief.
“I’ll take you there sometime and you can judge for yourself. May I continue?” he asked long-sufferingly.
“You may,” she granted in a regal voice.
“So, Halloween was fast approaching and there was to be a masquerade ball where she was to meet three princes and hopefully decide on one to marry. Aster decided that she was going to run away that night. She’d made a costume in secret from the scraps of fabric left over from the outfits the ladies of the court had made and she hid it in a room off the antechamber the dance was to be held in. Something she could easily slip into after she’d been seen in her official costume. Something no one would recognize her in.”
“Smart girl.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“So what happened? Did the prince come and was he the man of her dreams?” Rose asked with a little yawn. The narcotic tea was starting to have its intended effect.
“Well, like I said, there were three princes. The first prince came and although he was dashing and charming and handsome-.”
“Oh? What’d he look like?” Rose asked.
“She couldn’t see his whole face because he was wearing a mask over his eyes, but he had black hair, blue eyes, a jaw that could cut glass, a cleft chin and dimples,” said the Doctor.
“Was he wearing leather pants?”
“Could’ve been.”
“You’re modeling him after Captain Jack, aren’t you?” she asked with a snort.
“Maybe.”
Rose giggled then held her ribs. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. Go on.”
“So R-Aster danced with the prince and she made polite small talk and got to know him a little bit, and even flirted-.”
“She didn’t!” Rose said sounding scandalized.
“She did. But she hadn’t met the hero of the story yet so her behavior can be excused. So she flirted quite blatantly, but it turned out that while the Cap-while the prince was a genuinely good man, he was just too flash and experienced for her taste. Our princess wanted someone solid and intelligent and even more adventurous. She wanted a way out of her life, not a way further into it. She wanted-.”
“A man with bigger-.”
“Rose-.”
“Ears?”
“Oi, who’s telling this story, then?” he asked.
He didn’t go on until she mumbled, “You are.”
“When the second prince was introduced she found she enjoyed his company. He was…comfortable. She felt as if she’d grown up with him and she knew immediately that they could be good friends and maybe if there wasn’t something better out there, a life with him wouldn’t be so awful. Although he’d gotten a reputation in his youth of being somewhat of an idiot, he perhaps wasn’t as bad as some people had made him out to be. He was loyal and forthright and faithful and true-.”
“Mickey’s not a dog or a scout,” Rose interrupted dryly.
“Who says this is Rickey?” he asked. “Prince number two would be good in a crisis, but Aster just couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with him. Not when there was a whole world to see.”
“And the third prince? Does he travel in time?” she teased.
“No,” he said. “The third prince was a pretty boy who’d gotten in over his head on more than one occasion. For a boy who was a veritable genius he did a lot of stupid things. Rose couldn’t take him seriously when she found out the helmet stuck on his head wasn’t part of his costume, but something he’d had magically adhered there because he thought it made him look sharp.”
“You just said Rose,” she sing-songed with a grin. “And don’t think I don’t recognize Adam Mitchell when I hear about him.”
“Aster,” he corrected hastily. “Aster thought he was an idiot. It didn’t take her long at all to dismiss him outright. So, having decided that none of the princes were worth giving up her life for, Aster managed to excuse herself and made her way into the side room and quickly changed out of her costume. She put on two sets of clothes, changed into good walking boots, then pulled the second costume on over it. She’d packed every pocket she had with food or coins and she made them as flat as possible. She pulled a red velvet cape up over her locks and put on a silver eye mask. Carefully and quietly she slipped out of the ball.”
The Doctor took a breath. “She stopped in shock as she finished crossing the drawbridge. She had forgotten the tradition of her people of filling the entire courtyard with carved and candlelit jack-o-lanterns to keep away the evil spirits. Everywhere she looked a sea of orange and yellow faces confronted her. Dressed as she was in such bulky garments, the only paths allowed to her were the one straight through the main entry, which would be guarded, or around to the back side of the castle and out into the woods.” The Doctor stopped, his tone ominous.
“What did she do?”
“Well, she couldn’t go out the front. If there was any chance the guards would recognize her, an alarm might be sounded. But the woods…all her life she’d been afraid of the woods. She’d been told stories of things that happened in those woods, of creatures that lived there, fantastical creatures of myth and legend. But Aster, being the strong-willed young lady that she was, decided she wasn’t going to let a few stories stop her from escaping the life she didn’t want to live. So she took a few deep breaths and made her way into the forest, dropping the silver mask on the edge, leaving it behind.
“She walked on, keeping the warm red cloak tight about her body, but eventually the trees were so closely packed she could no longer see the stars and the moons that had been lighting her path. She decided to climb a tree and go to sleep.”
“Probably safer up there,” Rose said.
“That’s what she thought. So wrapped in her cape she settled into the crook of a tree and went to sleep. When morning came she ate some of the bread and hard cheese she’d secreted in her pockets and drank some water out of a water skin before climbing down to the ground. The light of day let her see something she couldn’t have seen in the dim light from the night sky. On the trees in front of her, spelled out letter by letter was a word, just one word…beware.”
“Beware of what?”
“Well, Aster didn’t know, but being the jeopardy friendly young woman that she was, it didn’t even occur to her to scuttle back home to safety. No, our dear Aster decided that she was going to find out just exactly what there was to beware of.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Now there was a legend on her planet of a horrible beast that lived in the forest. It had the tail of a scorpion and the wings of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the head of an elephant. It was called the gryphera, but it hadn’t been sighted in nearly thirty years, so Aster thought nothing of it. Or rather, the thought flitted through her head, but then flitted right back out again. It was a fairy story. It couldn’t possibly exist,” he said.
“But it did.”
“Of course it did, as Aster soon found out. She moved on into the forest, deeper and deeper, and as nothing happened she became sure that the warning on the trees was nothing, that the word beware was a remnant of older times and that there was nothing to fear. She wasn’t fearful by nature to begin with and so she pressed on, eager to see what was on the other side of the woods. She wanted to see the world. She wasn’t going to let an old story get in the way of that.”
The Doctor paused for a moment then reached over and picked up Rose’s hand. “Oh, is it about to get scary?” Rose asked.
“Hush. Aster walked for several hours and then sat down on a felled tree to eat her lunch. She had just finished up some dried fruit and nuts when a horrible cry echoed through the forest all around her. It bounced from tree to tree and she couldn’t determine which direction it was coming from. She had no idea what way she should go in to move away from it, but she knew she couldn’t just sit there frozen doing nothing.
“She walked in one direction for a little while, but when the roars became louder she turned and headed in a slightly different direction, but still the sounds seemed to echo even more violently. No matter which way she chose to go, it was like the creature was in her path, so she decided she would stop trying to avoid it and face it head on.”
“She’s not going to get eaten, is she?” Rose demanded.
“You said to Disneyfy it,” the Doctor reminded her.
“But you didn’t agree that you would.”
“No, I didn’t. Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?”
“Fine,” Rose said but there was definite sulkiness in her voice. She would have crossed her arms over her chest if her ribs hadn’t ached so much.
“Covering her ears, Aster continued forward and eventually she stumbled on a clearing. What she saw there absolutely terrified her. It was indeed the creature of legend, the gryphera, that had been making all that terrible noise. She stood quaking in her boots for several seconds before her eyes began to focus and take on the true sight before her gaze. Yes, it was a creature that could be mistaken for a monster, with its long claws and thrashing tail, but she realized that its cries were ones of terror and fear and pain when she noticed the pool of bright red blood on the forest floor. A long, metal spike stuck out of its ribcage.”
“Oh, the poor thing,” said Rose sympathetically. “It’s hurt. That’s why it’s crying out so horribly.”
“Indeed. Aster’s fear was shoved to the background. She couldn’t bear the agony the monster was in. She wondered if there was anything that she could do to help save him. Every instinct in her was telling her to run away, but her heart told her that she might be able to save the animal. She knew better than to approach a thrashing creature without making sure it saw her first so she walked around to the front of it where she could look him in the eyes and what she saw there startled her, for his eyes were as human as her own.”
Rose gasped. “He’s enchanted!”
“Will you let me tell it my way?” he asked.
“Sorry. Not so good at keeping quiet, me,” she said.
“Understatement.”
“Go on. I want to know what happens.”
“She got his attention and for a moment the gryphera just gaped at her before it let out a violent snarling sound. Aster held her ground until the animal put down his head and just looked at her. She could see tears in his steely blue eyes.
“‘Hello,’ she said with dignity. ‘I’m Aster. I’d like to try to help you if I can.’
“The gryphera’s head snapped around and his eyes focused soulfully on her. It had been decades since anyone had treated him as anything other than a monster. Now this young girl in front of him was showing him great compassion,” the Doctor said.
“‘That’s going to have to come out,’ she said. ‘And I can pack the wound with fabric, but it’s going to hurt. Do you think…do you think you can lay still and let me fix you?’
“The scorpion tail swept back and forth on the ground, its stinger prominent and dripping with poison, before it laid flat again. The gryphera made a soft, almost surprised sound deep in its throat. He stretched out his long trunk towards her and ever so gently wrapped it around her, picking her up and bringing her closer to his eyes. Aster shook with fear, but showed no other outward sign of her predicament. She was deposited lightly on the ground and when the animal made no move to hurt her she reached out a hand.
“‘You understand me, don’t you?’ she asked, patting him. The gryphera blinked slowly and made another soft sound. ‘Okay, let me go and I’ll go pull that thing out. You cry out as much as you need to, just…keep that tail and those claws away from me, okay?’ He blinked again and she moved in front of him.
“It took Aster nearly fifteen minutes to work the long spear out of his side,” the Doctor said. “The gryphera made some awful sounds and Aster was nearly crying at his pain by the time she was done. She used the last of her water to clean out the wound and then tore her costume to shreds and packed the wound with it. Carefully she used long strips tied together to hold the packing in place. She approached his head again and saw that he was sleeping. He’d passed out from the pain. She picked up the spear and threw it as far away from them as she could and then she sat down to wait.”
“Shouldn’t she have run away? It would have been the perfect time to get away from him,” Rose said.
“Well, like most jeopardy friendly young ladies, she wasn’t thinking with her head. She was thinking with her heart. So she stayed and she waited until the animal woke up again. When he did, he sprang to his feet and his sides began to heave. The bandage came off and Rose realized-.”
“Aster,” Rose corrected again with another giggle.
“Aster realized that the wound had healed. This was surely an enchanted creature.”
“Called it!” Rose said gleefully.
“The monster snarled at her and stalked towards her, but Aster held her ground. She wasn’t about to be scared off by some bluster.”
“‘Oh, stop it,’ she said bravely. ‘I took care of you and I know you’re not going to hurt me now.’
“Cheeky, isn’t she?” Rose asked.
“She is,” agreed the Doctor. “The gryphera stopped in mid-snarl and picked her up again with his trunk, bringing her to him. He deposited her onto his back and with a sudden leap that had her clutching the fur of his back, launched himself into the air. Aster held on for dear life as they flew over the woods and towards the mountain. At first she was scared, but slowly she relaxed and she watched the ground moving beneath them. She had wanted to see the world and she had to admit, as they flew off into the sunset, that this was a very nice way to do it.”
The Doctor stopped and when he didn’t resume talking Rose said impatiently, “That can’t be the end.”
“Why not? You said to Disneyfy it. I did. She saved the gryphera, he didn’t eat her, and her reward was to take a flight on his back and see the world, just like she’d always wanted.”
“But what about romance, what about happily ever after? I mean she just can’t fly around the world with a monster. People would try to kill him all the time. You can’t end it like that!” Rose protested. “You have to end the enchantment. She needs…she needs the good man that she was looking for and travel!”
“Fine,” grumbled the Doctor, “but that was a perfectly good ending.”
“Not good enough.”
“All right, all right. The gryphera flew on for several hours before at last coming to a stop outside a large cottage high on the mountaintop. Aster was very glad to be able to slide down to the ground, for it had been hours and she was in desperate need of the loo.”
“Not very romantic,” said Rose.
“But realistic,” said the Doctor. “Aster knocked on the door of the cottage and a little old lady opened the door. She looked over Aster’s shoulder and for a moment she thought the woman would scream in terror, but all she did was look back and forth between the monster and Aster.”
“‘So,’ said the old woman, ‘you’ve come to break the curse, have you?’
“‘Erm,” said Aster, “I was just hoping to use the loo. What curse is that then?’
“‘His curse,’ she said, pointing to the monster. ‘My son.’
“‘Oh, well, let me pee first and then we’ll discuss it.’”
“Again with the romance,” said Rose with a snort.
The Doctor continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Aster took care of business and then the woman invited her to sit down out in the yard and she explained the curse her son was under while the monster sat there swishing his tail.
“‘My son, Medens-.’
“Medens?” queried Rose. “What kind of name is that?”
“It means healer in Latin, if you must know.”
“Ah,” said Rose knowingly. Her hand tightened in his. He squeezed it back.
“‘My son Medens,’ said the woman, ‘was stricken by an evil wizard when he refused to marry the man’s daughter. You see, he was a bit of a romantic and always swore he’d marry for love and not position or money or…well, anything else really. He had no intention of settling down. He was a young man and he wanted to see the world. So the wizard cursed him into this shape and he can never stay still for long. If he doesn’t continue travelling he starts to die. He’s seen much of the world, but the world only sees him as a monster.’
“‘Is there a way to break the curse?’ Aster asked.
“‘I don’t know. He…sort of ate the wizard. I was never really able to figure it out. He probably knows, but since he can’t talk I can’t help him with it. I imagine falling in love might do it, but who’s going to spend time with him in that form and get to care about him?’
“‘You say he’s cursed to travel the world, never to stay in one place? I want to see the world. I could go with him. I can’t guarantee I’ll fall in love with him, or he with me, but maybe if I’m with him, people won’t be so afraid of him. If they see a girl like me travelling willingly with him, they won’t be so judgmental,’ she said. ‘It’ll make him less myth and legend and more accessible.’
“The gryphera leaped to his feet and began stalking about the yard. ‘Would you do that? For a stranger? A monster?’ the old woman asked.
“‘He only looks like a monster,’ said Aster as the beast came to a halt in front of her. She reached out and stroked a long ear and then patted his trunk. She was already partial to those features. ‘He’s not even attempted to hurt me and…well, I don’t want to go back to where I came from. What do you think, Medens?’ Aster asked. ‘Think we can be friends? See the world together?’
“Slowly Medens raised and lowered his head in a very deliberate nod. The next morning Aster mounted Medens and they flew off into the sunrise and all over the planet, from that day forward, the legends changed and people no longer viewed the gryphera as a destroyer, but as a symbol of great hope, for wherever they touched down, good things happened, villages were saved from disaster, and evil was conquered. Because one little human girl took a chance and went travelling with a monster.’”
The Doctor trailed off and Rose sighed. “What…?”
“What what?” asked the Doctor.
Rose laughed. “I’m rubbing off on you. But you can’t end it like that, either.”
“You’re very picky for an invalid,” he said.
Rose ignored him. “Was the curse ever broken? Did the…did Medens and Aster ever fall in love?”
“What do you think?”
“I think after a year together, spending all that time, and saving all those villages, that they were in love, but maybe...maybe neither one of them was ever brave enough to say it until one day Aster gently placed a kiss on Medens trunk and then he magically turned back into a man and they lived happily ever after, but continued to travel the world saving people and never settling down,” said Rose.
“Then there you go,” he said.
The Doctor held Rose as she drifted slowly towards sleep. On the edge of it she whispered, “You’re not, you know.”
“Not what.”
“A monster.”
“Never said that I was.”
“Mmm,” said Rose non-committally. She yawned. “And a year…that’s about right, isn’t it? That’s how long it’s been.”
“What?”
“A year…to fall…in love.” Her breath slowed.
“Rose?” he asked softly, but she didn’t answer him, having fallen into a drug-induced slumber. He smiled slightly. Rose was wrong of course. Or only partly right. Maybe it had taken her a year, but he had fallen in love at first sight. He gently pressed a kiss to her temple. Just like Aster with Medens, his Rose, and her love and companionship, had made him not a monster and he could only dare to hope they, too, would get their happily ever after.