Ephemera, Part Three
Title: Ephemera, Part Three
Rating: R
Characters/pairings: Ten, Donna, O/C (will keep calling her that for now to avoid spoilers, though it should be completely obvious by this point)
Warnings/spoilers: Through series four, just to be safe. Warnings for violence and disturbing images/themes throughout the story. Also, this is very AU.
Author's Notes: PLEASE TAKE NOTE-- I changed a couple of paragraphs in Chapter Two to fit a shift in the background history of this story. I'm sorry if this results in some confusion, but it was still early enough in the story that I felt it could be done. So people won't have to go re-read if they don't have to, I'll detail it here. I had originally hinted that Rose fell into the Void during Doomsday, as opposed to being pulled through to the other universe by Pete Tyler. But I had a plot bunny moment, and now the history of this story is the same as in Doomsday-- Rose was saved at the last minute by Pete. And then... well, suffice to say Things Happened in the other universe. That's all I'm going to say about this plot bunny for the moment, but more will be revealed later.
Part One
Part Two
Coraline Andrews stretched her lithe form out on the sand, tilting her face towards the sun, her eyes shrouded by sunglasses. She had been waiting a long time for this vacation; her father had finally given in to the pleading of his wife and daughter that he take some time off from his job and give them a nice holiday. Of course, a freak thunderstorm would hit the island the day before they arrived, but by the time they reached their destination-- chartered in a private jet, of course-- the sun was shining brightly and the water rippled with a deep turquoise. Coraline smiled at how much like a travel brochure this place looked... so picture perfect, it was almost unreal. In all her seventeen years, she'd never been to the Caribbean. To think! Well, she mused, better late than never.
She sat up to rub suntan oil on her bronzed shoulders, digging her toes into the white sand. She looked to her left and smiled; her father and her twelve year old brother, Jimmy, were off further down the waterline tossing a football back and forth. Her mother was by the rental car, digging through the ice chest in the trunk. Coraline shook out her long brunette hair and stretched her neck.
That was when she caught sight of it. Only, she couldn't ascertain what it was, exactly. It registered to her eyes as movement, a quickly darting shimmer, a distortion in the air. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but as she continued to watch, she saw it slowly begin to move towards her.
She pulled her sunglasses off. What on earth was it?
It moved closer, and she shivered as a sudden chill coursed through the air around her. She most definitely was not imagining this, whatever it was. She jumped to her feet, started moving towards her father and Jimmy. “Daddy?” she said uneasily, glancing his way, but he was too far away to hear her.
When she looked back, the thing was coursing towards her so quickly that she barely registered its movement. She tried to scream, but it was already on her, and she felt suddenly weightless, and breathless, and a feeling like a thousand needles prickling her skin and her mind overtook her, and she couldn't move, couldn't speak, and then, the voice was there, gentle, comforting, wrapping her in peace and warmth.
You are honored, Coraline Jessica Andrews. You will carry me through this world. You will be my flesh and blood. Rest now, and I will take your place in the world. I will carry you far, so very far, further than you've ever dreamed. Rest now, Coraline. Sleep. Sleep....
Coraline slept, and something else smiled with her mouth, waved with her hand to her father and brother, and strode purposefully towards the car her family had rented. Something else used her hand to seize her mother by the throat, lifting her bodily off the ground and tearing the keys from her grip, and then tossed her away like a rag doll. Coraline's body slid easily into the driver's seat of the car, turned on the ignition, and drove away from the sobs and terrified and confused shouts of her mother, father, and brother.
~~<~~@@~~>~~
Her eyes flew open, and she shot straight up in the small, steel-framed medical bed. For one, chaotic instant, she Knew, Remembered, Understood, and everything coalesced into a terrible, shining Oneness, a pressure in her skull that built and built and built, the expansive and infinite compressing to the infinitesimal, reflected and reflected and reflected and reflected to eternity -- and It was here, It had ridden the waves of Her being across the Void....
And then, there was nothing. Only emptiness in her mind.
She took a breath, released it. Her hand bunched in the sheet beneath her, cotton, white, a hundred count thread. Real. Solid. She swung her legs from the bed, touched bare feet to a metal grating. She was wearing a simple shift, woven of a synthetic material made on a planet at the edge of the Earth's home galaxy. She didn't know how she knew that.
She stood. Her legs felt weak, like... gelatin. Like rubber. The floor was cold under her feet, and she could feel the grating pattern pressing into her soles. A soft, insistent beeping at her chest drew her attention downward, and she saw a small round, flat device lightly adhered to the skin over her heart. She peeled it off, and it let out a long, continuous tone upon breaking contact with her vitals. She tossed the vitals monitor onto the bed, and began to walk.
She found herself in a corridor. It was long, winding, and the softly glowing gold-orange walls curved upwards over her head, paneled with hexagonal shapes.
She touched a wall, laid her palm flat against its surface. She felt something shift gently in her mind, and smiled. She didn't know why.
Rapid footfalls drew her attention from around the corridor bend, and a moment later, a tall, lanky man appeared, looking slightly panicked. He held a small circular disk in his hand, which was emitting the same continuous tone that her vitals monitor had emitted after she had removed it from herself.
Upon seeing her, the man skidded to a halt, his heels sliding a little on the floor. He broke into a sudden, huge grin that didn't quite reach his eyes, and said, “Oh! You're awake! Brilliant!” He stuffed the beeping disk into his pocket, and the tone faded out. He looked at her, still smiling, a little awkward. “Hello! I'm the Doctor.”
“Oh,” she said. “Um... hello.”
He waited for a moment, and she got the impression that he was waiting for her to give her name. She shrugged helplessly, and he smiled again. She rather liked his smile, she thought.
He was speaking again. “But look at you! You look good as new. All healed. Healed overnight. Instantaneous recovery, very fast indeed.” He appraised her carefully, his expression turning thoughtful. “Interesting, that.”
“I'm sorry,” she said. “But... would you mind telling me where I am?”
“Oh! Of course. Sorry. We're on the TARDIS. It's my ship. You're on my ship.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We... found you, my friend and I. You were... badly hurt.” He peered at her. “What do you remember?”
“I... I can't...” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. Everything's sort of... blank... right now. I don't... I mean...”
He gazed at her, and something about his expression sent chills of deja vu down her spine. “Do you remember anything?” She shook her head. “Do you remember who you are?” he asked, his voice very gentle.
She began to wrap her arms around herself, but realized that it perhaps looked too defensive. She had no idea what to expect here, and her natural state seemed to be on guard, though she instinctively felt safe here, and with this man. So, she let her arms fall easily at her sides, looked at the Doctor squarely, and shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “I don't remember anything.”
He nodded, then held a hand out to her. “I can help you, if you'll let me.”
She hesitated only a few seconds before tentatively reaching out, brushing her fingers lightly over his before tightly clasping his hand. A wave of familiarity washed over her, so palpable that an electric tingle rushed through her hand and up her arm. She caught her breath, struggling to hold onto the sensation, to make sense of it. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.
For some reason, she suddenly expected him to say, “Run!” How odd.