Fic: Keeper of the Mind (1/4?) (DW)
Title: Keeper of the Mind
Author: hexicode
Fandom/pairing: Doctor Who, no pairing
Summary: “Who are you to judge who lives and who dies? You have always survived.”
Rating: all ages
Warnings: probably AU
Disclaimers: The characters and settings aren't mine. No profit is being made, this is for entertainment only.
A/N: Spoilers for the 2005 series. Beta by the awesome DianeM. Thanks!
oOo
“Doctor, there is something wrong with…the TARDIS,” Rose finished, taking in the scene in the console room. When the toaster had spontaneously set itself on fire, Rose had suspected the Doctor had tried to fix it again. But when the gravity in the TARDIS kitchen had suddenly cut out, she had known that something was wrong. Deciding to forgo slapping Jack for laughing at her flopping around in a rather ungainly fashion after she had suddenly become weightless, Rose had rushed off to the control room as soon as she had gotten back on her feet, gravity restored.
Smoke was rising from the central console, forming a thick, dark cloud beneath the vaulted ceiling. The normally soft hum of the engines had been replaced by an almost shrieking sound. The Doctor seemed oblivious to it all as he was darting around the console, pushing buttons and mumbling something the TARDIS didn’t seem inclined to translate.
“Doctor?” Rose tried again.
The Doctor stopped and looked up. “I’m busy.”
“I can see that.” Rose suppressed a smirk. The Doctor’s face was smeared with traces of soot. There were even a few smears on his jacket. Rose had never seen the Doctor look quite this rattled before. “What happened?”
“Slight accident,” the Doctor told her with a grimace. “I dropped a cup of tea on the console.”
“You did what?”
“Don’t laugh! Being around you lot has to be rubbing off on me.”
The Doctor’s protests were cut off by a shrill alarm. The TARDIS was starting to shake. Instantly, he was all business again.
“Oh no! This is bad.” The lights started to flicker rapidly.
“What’s happening?” Rose asked, yelling over the deafening alarm. The TARDIS was now shaking so badly, she had to hold on to the railing to keep from falling down. She’d never thought the TARDIS could actually crash, but now she was rapidly revising that particular misconception.
“We’ve materialised inside a planet’s atmosphere. The gravity is pulling us down.”
“Can’t we just dematerialize again?”
“I’m trying. The dematerialization circuit must have been damaged...”
Suddenly the Doctor broke off and lunged at her, bringing her down to the floor. Before Rose could protest, there was a blinding white flash and everything exploded.
oOo
Rose’s ears were ringing and smoke was burning in her throat. She opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found that the TARDIS was in one piece. She grappled to her feet and spotted Jack and the Doctor hovering over the damaged console, tossing back and forth technical terms. Somewhat miffed that she had been forgotten about, Rose headed for the TARDIS doors to find out where their unplanned landing at taken them.
Outside was a pleasant spring day in the countryside. At first glance there was nothing unearthly about it, but the chances that they had actually crashed on Earth, of all places, were slim. However she wouldn’t put it past the Doctor or the TARDIS for that matter to have managed once again to take them to Earth. No matter were the Doctor wanted to go, they always seemed to end up on her home planet. Not that any place was ever boring when the Doctor was involved, but Rose was itching to see an alien planet for a change. If a crash landing was what it took, she wasn’t going to complain. Casting a look back at Jack and the Doctor, Rose stepped outside.
The TARDIS had set down on a small hill, overlooking a plane of grassland. Sprinkled between expanses of untouched nature were a number of small fields. A few figures in colourful clothes appeared to be tending to them. Rose grinned, her first alien planet, complete with aliens. Granted, she had met her fair share of aliens while travelling in the TARDIS, but the majority, not counting the Doctor himself, had been out to kill, eat or exterminate her. Hopefully, this planet would turn out to be a nice change of pace. Rose was so busy picturing what an alien planet might be like, she almost forgot that they were stranded.
“He can fix the TARDIS, but it’s going to take a while.” Jack came walking up to her. “I never thought I’d see the Doctor be mad at himself. I think I even heard him apologize to the TARDIS.”
The mental image of the Doctor petting and whispering to his TARDIS made Rose giggle. “So, this means a day at the beach for us?”
Jack shot her a quizzical look. “Beach? I don’t think we’ll find one anywhere near here, but I wouldn’t mind a visit to the local bar.”
“What makes you think there will be a bar any more than a beach?” Rose gestured to the peasant folk who seemed to be toiling away in the fields without noticing that they were being watched by two strangers who had just walked out of a blue police box.
“There is always a bar. Always. Trust me.” Jack thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
“All right. Let’s have a look around,” Rose agreed happily. Maybe without the Doctor along, they would be able to stay out of trouble for once.
oOo
Even though they had cut through the fields for a shortcut, they had been walking for nearly an hour until they reached the village. It was actually more of a town, an expanse of cream-coloured buildings sprawled out in a valley, overlooked by snow-covered peaks in the distance.
The village itself didn’t disappoint either. Most houses lay behind small gardens planted with exotic looking flower and trees with purple leaves. While Jack was navigating the narrow streets with purpose as if some internal radar was pointing him into the direction of the supposed bar, Rose didn’t know where to look first.
They followed the winding streets to a large open square buzzing with life. Merchants were loudly advertising all manner of goods; produce, fabrics, even animals. Their voices mixed with the sounds of strange, but pleasant music. Rose had a hard time following Jack through the crowd; there seemed hardly enough place for everyone to stand, let along walk or conduct business. None of the locals, however, seemed bothered by the noise or the crowds. Although she and Jack were bound to stick out among the villagers in their flowing, colourful robes, no one even seemed to notice them.
When they finally made it across the square, they found the source of the music. It was coming from an imposing building. It was far larger than any of the houses they had passed. The actual building was set back from the street and a long series of steps led up to it. With guards standing by the open entrance, it seemed important and official.
“Did you hear that?” Jack suddenly asked and Rose was fairly certain that he didn’t mean the music. Rose strained to listen, but she could hear nothing unusual among the general noise.
“No, I can’t…”
Rose was cut short by a woman’s voice, crying and pleading. It was coming from the large building.
No, please, don’t. Let me go. Please let me go. I promise I will never do it again. Please don’t kill me. It was all a mistake. I love my children…please, you can’t do this…
Jack was already half-way up the stairs, by the time the woman broke into a scream. Rose didn’t need more than a split second to decide to follow him, ignoring the nagging bad feeling at the edge of her mind.
oOo
By the time Rose ran past the confused looking guards, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Rose did her best to follow the screams through the maze of dimly lit corridors, hoping that she’d find Jack before the guards caught up with them. Her lungs were burning by the time she heard Jack’s blaster discharge. She found him around the next bend inside a large hall.
Under other circumstances, Rose would be fascinated by the intricate mosaics that covered the walls and extended to the domed ceiling. In the flickering light of hundreds of candles, the images seemed to move on their own. The center of the hall was taken up by a gigantic crystal that was glowing so brightly Rose couldn’t look directly at it. At the foot of it, a woman was slumped on the floor, obviously the victim of Jack’s blaster.
“Let her go or I’ll shoot you too,” Jack demanded, keeping his blaster aimed at a group of women surrounding a woman in white robes whose ankles and wrists were tied.
“You have no right to be here.” An elderly woman stepped to the front, unimpressed by Jack’s weapon. “This in none of your concern.”
“I think I should be concerned when you are about to kill someone.”
“You don’t understand. She is unwell. The Keeper will heal her.” The woman nodded to the others, who grabbed their prisoner and started dragging her towards the crystal. The tied-up woman, who had been sobbing quietly until now, started screaming.
Jack fired once, at the woman in charge, but she seemed to simply absorb the blast, not even flinching when she was hit.
“Seize them,” the woman commanded someone behind them. Rose whirled around, but before Jack could get off another shot, one of the guards simply raised his hand and a bright blue beam struck Jack in the chest. He fell to the floor without making a sound. Rose was about to rush over to him when strong arms seized her from behind.
“We don’t wish to harm you, but if you fight us, we’ll have no choice.”
“What did you do to Jack?” Rose demanded. To her relief, Jack was already starting to stir.
“He’ll be fine.” A guard pulled Jack to his feet. Jack still seemed out of it, but he was standing with some help.
“What are you going to do with us?” Rose asked, not sure she wanted to know. Right now would be a good time for the Doctor to show up, but since they had wandered off without even telling him, he had no way of knowing where they were.
“The Keeper will decide your fate,” the woman solemnly declared.
“We don’t even know what we’ve done. If we’ve committed some sort of crime, shouldn’t there at least be a trial, or something?”
“There is no reason to be afraid. The keeper has never harmed anyone.” The woman’s voice softened.
“That’s….good. So why don’t you let us go?” Rose asked, wishing Jack would be the one doing the talking. He was bound to have wriggled himself out of a lot of tight spots, but Jack was still staring dazedly into space.
“You are confused and that is understandable. You are a danger to yourselves. We only want to help you.”
“What does that mean? We can leave if that’s what you want…” Rose hoped the Doctor had fixed up the TARDIS by now.
“I’m afraid we cannot rely on the word of a stranger.” The woman smiled sadly as if regretting what she was about to do, but before Rose could launch a further protest; she was being pulled towards the large crystal. Suddenly she was released and everyone backed away. Jack was standing next to her, somewhat unsteady on his feet. Rose was ready to bolt, determined to drag Jack along if she had to, when the woman spoke again.
“The second shot isn’t as harmless as the first. It is really in your best interest to follow through with the ritual.”
Rose swallowed hard, trying to think of something to save them. What would the Doctor do in her place, she wondered.
“What do we have to do?” Rose finally asked. Maybe the woman was right, and they wouldn’t be harmed. She seriously doubted that, but it probably beat being shot.
“Touch the crystal.”
Rose looked over to Jack, but there was no sign he had a plan that would get them out of the situation. He didn’t even seem to know what was going on.
Rose took Jack’s hand and stepped forward to touch the crystal.
oOo
The Doctor stepped back to admire his work. It had taken him almost six hours, but considering that for a while he’d been wondering if the TARDIS would ever get off the ground again, he was doing pretty well.
While he had noticed the conspicuous absence of his companions, he hadn’t really had the time or headspace to give the issue much thought. But now that he was finished tinkering and the TARDIS had kindly informed him that his passengers were not on board, the Doctor was starting to wonder and worry.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his companions, but he had long stopped counting how many times he’d had to chase after a wandering companion.
It was already dark outside. It was the kind of inky darkness people on planets like Earth never got to see, at least not in Rose’s time. Most of them didn’t realize how dark and silent the night was without streetlamps, 24/7 businesses and restaurants or cars. Luckily, the Doctor had far better night vision than most humans and it didn’t take him long to find the very small, faint light coming from the settlement.
The dark streets didn’t bother the Doctor, but he was certain that nothing other than a local tavern could keep Jack and Rose in a town where nothing seemed to happen after sundown. There wasn’t a single person to be seen in the entire town. Only when the Doctor reached the village square, he found the source of the light and confirmation that the town was populated at all.
The Doctor hurried up the steps to the large building, approaching the guards flanking the open entrance.
“Hey, I was wondering of you could help me out.”
The guards looked at, but didn’t deign him worthy of an answer.
“I’m looking for a girl - she has blonde hair. She was with a man…”
“You mean the two who desecrated the image of the Keeper?”
That didn’t bode well.
“I guess I’m looking for them. What happened to them?” The Doctor asked, resigned to break Jack and Rose out of jail.
“The Keeper has taken care of them.”
“Taken care of them? How?”
“They were confused, their minds were astray, but the Keeper has taken care of them. You do not need to worry about them anymore.”
The Doctor had been more annoyed than worried until know, but this had a very bad ring to it.
“Listen. I’m a friend of theirs. I need to talk to them. Where can I find them?” The guards looked at him blankly. The Doctor was wondering if the TARDIS translation circuit was working right, when a woman came out of the doorway. She was wearing a simple dark green robe, but carried herself with confidence. Still, she gave a small bow in front of the Doctor, before looking up at him.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for a friend…two friends actually,” the Doctor repeated.
“Yes, I know.” The woman smiled. “Strangers are a very rare sight here. It has been many generations since we last had visitors from beyond the hills.”
“We’ll be on our way as soon as I can find my friends.”
“I can see that you are worried about them, but the Keeper has taken care of them. Now we will take care of them.”
“At least let me talk to them,” the Doctor pleaded. Once he knew who the ‘Keeper’ was and what they had done with Jack and Rose, he could figure out a way to get them back to the TARDIS.
“The girl isn’t here anymore, but I can take you to see your friend. Maybe then, you’ll understand that he is well now,” the woman admitted. She turned around and the Doctor followed her into the building.
oOo
When the Doctor finally set eyes on Jack, his worst fears were confirmed. The woman had led him along a series of corridors in what seemed like a temple or monastery. She had finally stopped at the end of a long corridor in front of a small room shielded with a curtain.
Not waiting for permission, the Doctor had pushed his way inside. The room filled with the thick smell of burning incense and the only light came from a single candle standing on a small desk. Jack was lying on the bed. He seemed caught in a nightmare, turning restlessly and mumbling unintelligible words. A young woman, also dressed in green robes, sat at his bedside.
“What did you do to him?” the Doctor demanded angrily. The older woman only smiled sadly. “He’s fine, now.”
“Fine?” The Doctor pushed away the young woman to check on Jack himself. Whatever he was experiencing, it was no ordinary nightmare. The Doctor didn’t need to consciously reach out to pick up on the jumble of fear, anger and grief radiating from Jack.
“He’s not fine. He’s dying! What did you do to his mind?”
“It wasn’t our intention. The Keeper would never have intentionally harmed him. It must have been an accident,” the woman apologized.
“Who’s this Keeper?” the Doctor asked. Both women looked at him with shocked expressions.
“Oh, never mind. I need to get him back to my ship. Can any of you help me carry him?” The Doctor earned only more stunned looks in response. Neither of the women made any attempt to help him.
“Can you really save him?” the younger woman finally asked in a small voice.
“I think so, if I’m right about what’s wrong with him. Is there anything you can tell me about what happened?”
“This never happened before. Some get a headache after meeting the Keeper, but no one has ever gotten sick like this.”
“What exactly does the Keeper do?”
“She performs a healing ritual. It’s only supposed to help people who have become …lost and confused. Without the Keeper, there would be nothing but chaos and violence,” the younger woman explained reluctantly. “The Keeper maintains the balance of all things.”
When the Doctor noticed that Jack’s breathing was starting to become ragged, he abandoned his line of questioning. “Can you get someone to help me carry him?” He asked again instead.
“Yes, I’ll get one of the guards to help you,” the older woman finally agreed and hurried from the room.
oOo
The Doctor had finally gotten Jack back to the TARDIS, with the reluctant help of one of the temple guards.
A quick scan had confirmed what he had already suspected. In whatever way the Demarans had intended to mess with Jack’s mind, they’d set off a severe psychic shock. The Doctor wasn’t sure what had caused it, but whatever memories Jack’s mind was trapped in, his body was taking a beating, analogous to whatever he was reliving. The Doctor couldn’t do more than help Jack push back his memories for a few hours, but hopefully it would be enough to learn what had really happened and where Rose was. If Rose was in a similar state as Jack, she didn’t have a few hours, but there was nothing the Doctor could do for her now, except hope that Jack would be able to tell him something.
The Doctor took a deep breath to steady himself. Then he put his hands on Jack’s temples and let the memories flood his mind.
TBC
Take me to the next part
Author: hexicode
Fandom/pairing: Doctor Who, no pairing
Summary: “Who are you to judge who lives and who dies? You have always survived.”
Rating: all ages
Warnings: probably AU
Disclaimers: The characters and settings aren't mine. No profit is being made, this is for entertainment only.
A/N: Spoilers for the 2005 series. Beta by the awesome DianeM. Thanks!
oOo
“Doctor, there is something wrong with…the TARDIS,” Rose finished, taking in the scene in the console room. When the toaster had spontaneously set itself on fire, Rose had suspected the Doctor had tried to fix it again. But when the gravity in the TARDIS kitchen had suddenly cut out, she had known that something was wrong. Deciding to forgo slapping Jack for laughing at her flopping around in a rather ungainly fashion after she had suddenly become weightless, Rose had rushed off to the control room as soon as she had gotten back on her feet, gravity restored.
Smoke was rising from the central console, forming a thick, dark cloud beneath the vaulted ceiling. The normally soft hum of the engines had been replaced by an almost shrieking sound. The Doctor seemed oblivious to it all as he was darting around the console, pushing buttons and mumbling something the TARDIS didn’t seem inclined to translate.
“Doctor?” Rose tried again.
The Doctor stopped and looked up. “I’m busy.”
“I can see that.” Rose suppressed a smirk. The Doctor’s face was smeared with traces of soot. There were even a few smears on his jacket. Rose had never seen the Doctor look quite this rattled before. “What happened?”
“Slight accident,” the Doctor told her with a grimace. “I dropped a cup of tea on the console.”
“You did what?”
“Don’t laugh! Being around you lot has to be rubbing off on me.”
The Doctor’s protests were cut off by a shrill alarm. The TARDIS was starting to shake. Instantly, he was all business again.
“Oh no! This is bad.” The lights started to flicker rapidly.
“What’s happening?” Rose asked, yelling over the deafening alarm. The TARDIS was now shaking so badly, she had to hold on to the railing to keep from falling down. She’d never thought the TARDIS could actually crash, but now she was rapidly revising that particular misconception.
“We’ve materialised inside a planet’s atmosphere. The gravity is pulling us down.”
“Can’t we just dematerialize again?”
“I’m trying. The dematerialization circuit must have been damaged...”
Suddenly the Doctor broke off and lunged at her, bringing her down to the floor. Before Rose could protest, there was a blinding white flash and everything exploded.
oOo
Rose’s ears were ringing and smoke was burning in her throat. She opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found that the TARDIS was in one piece. She grappled to her feet and spotted Jack and the Doctor hovering over the damaged console, tossing back and forth technical terms. Somewhat miffed that she had been forgotten about, Rose headed for the TARDIS doors to find out where their unplanned landing at taken them.
Outside was a pleasant spring day in the countryside. At first glance there was nothing unearthly about it, but the chances that they had actually crashed on Earth, of all places, were slim. However she wouldn’t put it past the Doctor or the TARDIS for that matter to have managed once again to take them to Earth. No matter were the Doctor wanted to go, they always seemed to end up on her home planet. Not that any place was ever boring when the Doctor was involved, but Rose was itching to see an alien planet for a change. If a crash landing was what it took, she wasn’t going to complain. Casting a look back at Jack and the Doctor, Rose stepped outside.
The TARDIS had set down on a small hill, overlooking a plane of grassland. Sprinkled between expanses of untouched nature were a number of small fields. A few figures in colourful clothes appeared to be tending to them. Rose grinned, her first alien planet, complete with aliens. Granted, she had met her fair share of aliens while travelling in the TARDIS, but the majority, not counting the Doctor himself, had been out to kill, eat or exterminate her. Hopefully, this planet would turn out to be a nice change of pace. Rose was so busy picturing what an alien planet might be like, she almost forgot that they were stranded.
“He can fix the TARDIS, but it’s going to take a while.” Jack came walking up to her. “I never thought I’d see the Doctor be mad at himself. I think I even heard him apologize to the TARDIS.”
The mental image of the Doctor petting and whispering to his TARDIS made Rose giggle. “So, this means a day at the beach for us?”
Jack shot her a quizzical look. “Beach? I don’t think we’ll find one anywhere near here, but I wouldn’t mind a visit to the local bar.”
“What makes you think there will be a bar any more than a beach?” Rose gestured to the peasant folk who seemed to be toiling away in the fields without noticing that they were being watched by two strangers who had just walked out of a blue police box.
“There is always a bar. Always. Trust me.” Jack thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
“All right. Let’s have a look around,” Rose agreed happily. Maybe without the Doctor along, they would be able to stay out of trouble for once.
oOo
Even though they had cut through the fields for a shortcut, they had been walking for nearly an hour until they reached the village. It was actually more of a town, an expanse of cream-coloured buildings sprawled out in a valley, overlooked by snow-covered peaks in the distance.
The village itself didn’t disappoint either. Most houses lay behind small gardens planted with exotic looking flower and trees with purple leaves. While Jack was navigating the narrow streets with purpose as if some internal radar was pointing him into the direction of the supposed bar, Rose didn’t know where to look first.
They followed the winding streets to a large open square buzzing with life. Merchants were loudly advertising all manner of goods; produce, fabrics, even animals. Their voices mixed with the sounds of strange, but pleasant music. Rose had a hard time following Jack through the crowd; there seemed hardly enough place for everyone to stand, let along walk or conduct business. None of the locals, however, seemed bothered by the noise or the crowds. Although she and Jack were bound to stick out among the villagers in their flowing, colourful robes, no one even seemed to notice them.
When they finally made it across the square, they found the source of the music. It was coming from an imposing building. It was far larger than any of the houses they had passed. The actual building was set back from the street and a long series of steps led up to it. With guards standing by the open entrance, it seemed important and official.
“Did you hear that?” Jack suddenly asked and Rose was fairly certain that he didn’t mean the music. Rose strained to listen, but she could hear nothing unusual among the general noise.
“No, I can’t…”
Rose was cut short by a woman’s voice, crying and pleading. It was coming from the large building.
No, please, don’t. Let me go. Please let me go. I promise I will never do it again. Please don’t kill me. It was all a mistake. I love my children…please, you can’t do this…
Jack was already half-way up the stairs, by the time the woman broke into a scream. Rose didn’t need more than a split second to decide to follow him, ignoring the nagging bad feeling at the edge of her mind.
oOo
By the time Rose ran past the confused looking guards, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Rose did her best to follow the screams through the maze of dimly lit corridors, hoping that she’d find Jack before the guards caught up with them. Her lungs were burning by the time she heard Jack’s blaster discharge. She found him around the next bend inside a large hall.
Under other circumstances, Rose would be fascinated by the intricate mosaics that covered the walls and extended to the domed ceiling. In the flickering light of hundreds of candles, the images seemed to move on their own. The center of the hall was taken up by a gigantic crystal that was glowing so brightly Rose couldn’t look directly at it. At the foot of it, a woman was slumped on the floor, obviously the victim of Jack’s blaster.
“Let her go or I’ll shoot you too,” Jack demanded, keeping his blaster aimed at a group of women surrounding a woman in white robes whose ankles and wrists were tied.
“You have no right to be here.” An elderly woman stepped to the front, unimpressed by Jack’s weapon. “This in none of your concern.”
“I think I should be concerned when you are about to kill someone.”
“You don’t understand. She is unwell. The Keeper will heal her.” The woman nodded to the others, who grabbed their prisoner and started dragging her towards the crystal. The tied-up woman, who had been sobbing quietly until now, started screaming.
Jack fired once, at the woman in charge, but she seemed to simply absorb the blast, not even flinching when she was hit.
“Seize them,” the woman commanded someone behind them. Rose whirled around, but before Jack could get off another shot, one of the guards simply raised his hand and a bright blue beam struck Jack in the chest. He fell to the floor without making a sound. Rose was about to rush over to him when strong arms seized her from behind.
“We don’t wish to harm you, but if you fight us, we’ll have no choice.”
“What did you do to Jack?” Rose demanded. To her relief, Jack was already starting to stir.
“He’ll be fine.” A guard pulled Jack to his feet. Jack still seemed out of it, but he was standing with some help.
“What are you going to do with us?” Rose asked, not sure she wanted to know. Right now would be a good time for the Doctor to show up, but since they had wandered off without even telling him, he had no way of knowing where they were.
“The Keeper will decide your fate,” the woman solemnly declared.
“We don’t even know what we’ve done. If we’ve committed some sort of crime, shouldn’t there at least be a trial, or something?”
“There is no reason to be afraid. The keeper has never harmed anyone.” The woman’s voice softened.
“That’s….good. So why don’t you let us go?” Rose asked, wishing Jack would be the one doing the talking. He was bound to have wriggled himself out of a lot of tight spots, but Jack was still staring dazedly into space.
“You are confused and that is understandable. You are a danger to yourselves. We only want to help you.”
“What does that mean? We can leave if that’s what you want…” Rose hoped the Doctor had fixed up the TARDIS by now.
“I’m afraid we cannot rely on the word of a stranger.” The woman smiled sadly as if regretting what she was about to do, but before Rose could launch a further protest; she was being pulled towards the large crystal. Suddenly she was released and everyone backed away. Jack was standing next to her, somewhat unsteady on his feet. Rose was ready to bolt, determined to drag Jack along if she had to, when the woman spoke again.
“The second shot isn’t as harmless as the first. It is really in your best interest to follow through with the ritual.”
Rose swallowed hard, trying to think of something to save them. What would the Doctor do in her place, she wondered.
“What do we have to do?” Rose finally asked. Maybe the woman was right, and they wouldn’t be harmed. She seriously doubted that, but it probably beat being shot.
“Touch the crystal.”
Rose looked over to Jack, but there was no sign he had a plan that would get them out of the situation. He didn’t even seem to know what was going on.
Rose took Jack’s hand and stepped forward to touch the crystal.
oOo
The Doctor stepped back to admire his work. It had taken him almost six hours, but considering that for a while he’d been wondering if the TARDIS would ever get off the ground again, he was doing pretty well.
While he had noticed the conspicuous absence of his companions, he hadn’t really had the time or headspace to give the issue much thought. But now that he was finished tinkering and the TARDIS had kindly informed him that his passengers were not on board, the Doctor was starting to wonder and worry.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his companions, but he had long stopped counting how many times he’d had to chase after a wandering companion.
It was already dark outside. It was the kind of inky darkness people on planets like Earth never got to see, at least not in Rose’s time. Most of them didn’t realize how dark and silent the night was without streetlamps, 24/7 businesses and restaurants or cars. Luckily, the Doctor had far better night vision than most humans and it didn’t take him long to find the very small, faint light coming from the settlement.
The dark streets didn’t bother the Doctor, but he was certain that nothing other than a local tavern could keep Jack and Rose in a town where nothing seemed to happen after sundown. There wasn’t a single person to be seen in the entire town. Only when the Doctor reached the village square, he found the source of the light and confirmation that the town was populated at all.
The Doctor hurried up the steps to the large building, approaching the guards flanking the open entrance.
“Hey, I was wondering of you could help me out.”
The guards looked at, but didn’t deign him worthy of an answer.
“I’m looking for a girl - she has blonde hair. She was with a man…”
“You mean the two who desecrated the image of the Keeper?”
That didn’t bode well.
“I guess I’m looking for them. What happened to them?” The Doctor asked, resigned to break Jack and Rose out of jail.
“The Keeper has taken care of them.”
“Taken care of them? How?”
“They were confused, their minds were astray, but the Keeper has taken care of them. You do not need to worry about them anymore.”
The Doctor had been more annoyed than worried until know, but this had a very bad ring to it.
“Listen. I’m a friend of theirs. I need to talk to them. Where can I find them?” The guards looked at him blankly. The Doctor was wondering if the TARDIS translation circuit was working right, when a woman came out of the doorway. She was wearing a simple dark green robe, but carried herself with confidence. Still, she gave a small bow in front of the Doctor, before looking up at him.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for a friend…two friends actually,” the Doctor repeated.
“Yes, I know.” The woman smiled. “Strangers are a very rare sight here. It has been many generations since we last had visitors from beyond the hills.”
“We’ll be on our way as soon as I can find my friends.”
“I can see that you are worried about them, but the Keeper has taken care of them. Now we will take care of them.”
“At least let me talk to them,” the Doctor pleaded. Once he knew who the ‘Keeper’ was and what they had done with Jack and Rose, he could figure out a way to get them back to the TARDIS.
“The girl isn’t here anymore, but I can take you to see your friend. Maybe then, you’ll understand that he is well now,” the woman admitted. She turned around and the Doctor followed her into the building.
oOo
When the Doctor finally set eyes on Jack, his worst fears were confirmed. The woman had led him along a series of corridors in what seemed like a temple or monastery. She had finally stopped at the end of a long corridor in front of a small room shielded with a curtain.
Not waiting for permission, the Doctor had pushed his way inside. The room filled with the thick smell of burning incense and the only light came from a single candle standing on a small desk. Jack was lying on the bed. He seemed caught in a nightmare, turning restlessly and mumbling unintelligible words. A young woman, also dressed in green robes, sat at his bedside.
“What did you do to him?” the Doctor demanded angrily. The older woman only smiled sadly. “He’s fine, now.”
“Fine?” The Doctor pushed away the young woman to check on Jack himself. Whatever he was experiencing, it was no ordinary nightmare. The Doctor didn’t need to consciously reach out to pick up on the jumble of fear, anger and grief radiating from Jack.
“He’s not fine. He’s dying! What did you do to his mind?”
“It wasn’t our intention. The Keeper would never have intentionally harmed him. It must have been an accident,” the woman apologized.
“Who’s this Keeper?” the Doctor asked. Both women looked at him with shocked expressions.
“Oh, never mind. I need to get him back to my ship. Can any of you help me carry him?” The Doctor earned only more stunned looks in response. Neither of the women made any attempt to help him.
“Can you really save him?” the younger woman finally asked in a small voice.
“I think so, if I’m right about what’s wrong with him. Is there anything you can tell me about what happened?”
“This never happened before. Some get a headache after meeting the Keeper, but no one has ever gotten sick like this.”
“What exactly does the Keeper do?”
“She performs a healing ritual. It’s only supposed to help people who have become …lost and confused. Without the Keeper, there would be nothing but chaos and violence,” the younger woman explained reluctantly. “The Keeper maintains the balance of all things.”
When the Doctor noticed that Jack’s breathing was starting to become ragged, he abandoned his line of questioning. “Can you get someone to help me carry him?” He asked again instead.
“Yes, I’ll get one of the guards to help you,” the older woman finally agreed and hurried from the room.
oOo
The Doctor had finally gotten Jack back to the TARDIS, with the reluctant help of one of the temple guards.
A quick scan had confirmed what he had already suspected. In whatever way the Demarans had intended to mess with Jack’s mind, they’d set off a severe psychic shock. The Doctor wasn’t sure what had caused it, but whatever memories Jack’s mind was trapped in, his body was taking a beating, analogous to whatever he was reliving. The Doctor couldn’t do more than help Jack push back his memories for a few hours, but hopefully it would be enough to learn what had really happened and where Rose was. If Rose was in a similar state as Jack, she didn’t have a few hours, but there was nothing the Doctor could do for her now, except hope that Jack would be able to tell him something.
The Doctor took a deep breath to steady himself. Then he put his hands on Jack’s temples and let the memories flood his mind.
TBC
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