Doctor Who Ficlet: Always Hope
Title: Always Hope
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Not really.
Summary: Martha has only just started travelling with the Doctor and now it looks like their adventures are going to be over before they’ve hardly begun.
Word Count: 772
Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Doctor Who, author's choice, “I rather like Hope. Hope is a good emotion”,’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Now what do we do?” She was trying not to, but Martha was beginning to panic. She didn’t want to die, she’d hardly started to live yet, but here she was on an alien planet, trapped by monsters who intended to kill both her and this madman she was travelling with… She should be back on earth, working towards her goal of becoming a doctor, not halfway across the universe! Her family would never know what happened to her, they’d spend the rest of their lives wondering if she’d run away, or been kidnapped and sold into slavery, or murdered…
“Oh come on now, it’s not that bad! As dungeons go, this one’s quite nice! It’s dry, reasonably clean, and very roomy. Plenty of bales of straw to sit on too, and they didn’t even bother with chains!” the Doctor said cheerily, gesturing expansively around their prison.
“How can you not be scared?” Martha’s voice rose incredulously.
“Scared? Why would I be scared? Nothing to be scared of. Fear's no good, Martha Jones, I don't like fear, makes you go all gnuuurrrghhhhh!” He pulled a face and shuddered dramatically. “No, fear just gets in the way, stops you thinking and finding a way around problems. I wouldn’t bother with fear if I were you, and I’m not you, so I don’t. Also, I’m brilliant. Did I mention that I’m brilliant? I must have, I’m sure I did, back when we were sorting out that mess with Shakespeare. Now, chin up, nothing to worry about.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’ve never been locked in a dungeon before. You do remember they said we’re to be executed first thing in the morning, right?”
“Oh, that!” The Doctor waved a dismissive hand. “Stuff like this happens all the time. What did I say about fear? Fear’s useless. Hope now… I rather like Hope. Hope is a good emotion. Hope is hopeful.”
“Hope?”
“Yep! Situations like this, you should always hope, because if you have hope then things can only get better.”
“What is there to hope for? That they’ll have a change of heart and let us go?”
“It could happen. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“We’re locked in a dungeon with only one way out, and nobody knows we’re here except the people who locked us in!”
“That’s not entirely true. We know we’re here, and as for there only being one way out… There’s only one door, but who says we have to go out the same way we came in? Personally, I’d just as soon find another route. Ah, now see? There’s our way out!” With a triumphant grin the Doctor pointed up at a window, set high in the wall.
“There are inch thick bars on it, and even if there weren’t, it’s way out of reach.”
“Have some faith, Martha. That’s another good emotion, faith. Moves mountains, or so I’ve heard. Now give me a hand with this straw.” He started dragging one of the bales across to the wall below the window.
Martha hurried to help, shifting and stacking bales. It was better than just sitting around waiting for morning. Soon they had rough steps leading up almost to the window, where the Doctor set to work with his sonic screwdriver, vibrating the bars loose and handing them to Martha one at a time.
“There we go,” he said as he passed her the final bar and poked head and shoulders out to see what was on the other side. “Come on now, out you go.” He held out his hand and she scrambled up beside him.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh. Okay.” Martha scrabbled her way through the window, dropping down to the ground outside and huddling against the wall, worried she might be seen, and their escape bid foiled, but moments later the Doctor joined her.
“Right, off we go.”
“Where to?”
“To finish what we started of course.”
“But what if they just catch us and throw us back in the dungeon again?”
“They won’t.” The Doctor looked up as wisps of smoke started coming out or the window overhead. “They’re not going to have much of a dungeon soon, and anyway, they’re going to be a bit busy putting out the fire.” He grasped Martha’s hand. “Come along now. Hope, Martha! That’s the ticket! Hope and faith can work miracles!”
Grinning giddily, Martha ran along beside the Doctor, back towards the village to overthrow the alien invaders. Suddenly, she felt certain there was absolutely nothing the Doctor couldn’t do. She made up her mind to never doubt him again.
The End
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Not really.
Summary: Martha has only just started travelling with the Doctor and now it looks like their adventures are going to be over before they’ve hardly begun.
Word Count: 772
Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Doctor Who, author's choice, “I rather like Hope. Hope is a good emotion”,’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Now what do we do?” She was trying not to, but Martha was beginning to panic. She didn’t want to die, she’d hardly started to live yet, but here she was on an alien planet, trapped by monsters who intended to kill both her and this madman she was travelling with… She should be back on earth, working towards her goal of becoming a doctor, not halfway across the universe! Her family would never know what happened to her, they’d spend the rest of their lives wondering if she’d run away, or been kidnapped and sold into slavery, or murdered…
“Oh come on now, it’s not that bad! As dungeons go, this one’s quite nice! It’s dry, reasonably clean, and very roomy. Plenty of bales of straw to sit on too, and they didn’t even bother with chains!” the Doctor said cheerily, gesturing expansively around their prison.
“How can you not be scared?” Martha’s voice rose incredulously.
“Scared? Why would I be scared? Nothing to be scared of. Fear's no good, Martha Jones, I don't like fear, makes you go all gnuuurrrghhhhh!” He pulled a face and shuddered dramatically. “No, fear just gets in the way, stops you thinking and finding a way around problems. I wouldn’t bother with fear if I were you, and I’m not you, so I don’t. Also, I’m brilliant. Did I mention that I’m brilliant? I must have, I’m sure I did, back when we were sorting out that mess with Shakespeare. Now, chin up, nothing to worry about.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’ve never been locked in a dungeon before. You do remember they said we’re to be executed first thing in the morning, right?”
“Oh, that!” The Doctor waved a dismissive hand. “Stuff like this happens all the time. What did I say about fear? Fear’s useless. Hope now… I rather like Hope. Hope is a good emotion. Hope is hopeful.”
“Hope?”
“Yep! Situations like this, you should always hope, because if you have hope then things can only get better.”
“What is there to hope for? That they’ll have a change of heart and let us go?”
“It could happen. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“We’re locked in a dungeon with only one way out, and nobody knows we’re here except the people who locked us in!”
“That’s not entirely true. We know we’re here, and as for there only being one way out… There’s only one door, but who says we have to go out the same way we came in? Personally, I’d just as soon find another route. Ah, now see? There’s our way out!” With a triumphant grin the Doctor pointed up at a window, set high in the wall.
“There are inch thick bars on it, and even if there weren’t, it’s way out of reach.”
“Have some faith, Martha. That’s another good emotion, faith. Moves mountains, or so I’ve heard. Now give me a hand with this straw.” He started dragging one of the bales across to the wall below the window.
Martha hurried to help, shifting and stacking bales. It was better than just sitting around waiting for morning. Soon they had rough steps leading up almost to the window, where the Doctor set to work with his sonic screwdriver, vibrating the bars loose and handing them to Martha one at a time.
“There we go,” he said as he passed her the final bar and poked head and shoulders out to see what was on the other side. “Come on now, out you go.” He held out his hand and she scrambled up beside him.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh. Okay.” Martha scrabbled her way through the window, dropping down to the ground outside and huddling against the wall, worried she might be seen, and their escape bid foiled, but moments later the Doctor joined her.
“Right, off we go.”
“Where to?”
“To finish what we started of course.”
“But what if they just catch us and throw us back in the dungeon again?”
“They won’t.” The Doctor looked up as wisps of smoke started coming out or the window overhead. “They’re not going to have much of a dungeon soon, and anyway, they’re going to be a bit busy putting out the fire.” He grasped Martha’s hand. “Come along now. Hope, Martha! That’s the ticket! Hope and faith can work miracles!”
Grinning giddily, Martha ran along beside the Doctor, back towards the village to overthrow the alien invaders. Suddenly, she felt certain there was absolutely nothing the Doctor couldn’t do. She made up her mind to never doubt him again.
The End