Fic: Chain
Title: Chain
Summary: Doctor Who/Umineko no Naku Koro ni crossover. It involves Romana. There are probably spoilers for ‘The End of Time’ and potentially the later arcs of Umineko.
Rated: PG, I guess?
Word count: 591
Warnings: As I said, spoilers. Also potential sapphic subtext.
Notes: Because this was one of the few things about ‘The End of Time’ that I consistently liked all the way through.
Chain
She lay there. She lay there for a very long time as everything fell to pieces around her.
Rassilon fell howling back into the current of whirling spirits, and with him the rest of the race. The Matrix arced, spasmed, linked through countless aeons, and went out. She found herself in the great gallery again, beneath an evening sky, and it was all gone away from her.
She had escaped the eras of destruction and resurrection, escaped the whirlpool. It was all clear to her now and she fell from the gallery into the great seas of Earth.
Washed up on a rock, she lay for a long time more, listening to the cries of strange birds, watching them wheel in Earth’s bluish-grey sky.
A woman came down to the beach. She was dressed elaborately for a human, in a red-bodiced dress with a great skirt of gold-embroidered blackness. Not black fabric, it seemed like the darkness itself pooled about her. Her hair was golder than gold, her eyes blue as the vortex of the past.
‘Hel-hel-’ said Romana. ‘I…hel…’
Hello? Help? Both-.
The woman took Romana up to a big house and laid her out on a bed and dressed her wounds.
‘I have,’ she said, ‘for centuries now, been trying to figure out what I should do in my days. Healing you is, I think, better than what could have been done.’
‘I should be dead,’ said Romana.
‘You should,’ the gold-haired woman agreed.
‘I should have died with them when…’
‘You should.’ The gold-haired woman sponged off Romana’s forehead. ‘Did you enjoy your time hanging about in that church, Romana?’
‘I did, sort of,’ said Romana. ‘Why?
‘Without love,’ the woman said, ‘it cannot be seen.’
‘What can’t?’
‘Anything.’ The gold-haired woman sighed. ‘My servants are out right now, but I assure you, it can be trying to deal with them in this position. They are furniture. I am not sure how they love, if they love, if they have their own way…’ She shook her head.
‘I loved a lot in my time,’ said Romana. She caught a mirror out of the corner of her eye. At some point in the process of coming to this place she had regenerated. She could not clearly see what she looked like now but it was much younger than before and with a strange shade of reddish hair. ‘I loved a lot…’
The golden woman nodded. ‘And so I was able to return you.’
‘Who are you?’ asked Romana.
‘I am the Endless Witch,’ said the golden woman. ‘I kill and resurrect, with love and without fail.’
‘Endless Witch?’ Romana laughed. ‘That’s silly…’
‘Any sillier than anything else? I don’t think so.’ The golden woman smiled indulgently. ‘Do you not believe in witches? Because it’s bad if you don’t believe in witches.’
‘I believe in witches,’ said Romana. ‘The Pythia, Pandora, the mindbombs, there’s a lot to believe in.’
‘So what’s silly?’
‘That anybody would think me worth saving.’
The golden woman smiled again. ‘Our lives are very long,’ she said. ‘We each had our loves. We each have our atonements. As it happens, some bad things happened twenty-five years ago and I’ve been here, only residual, since.’
‘Only residual? Will you die soon?’
‘I’m not sure that I can die even if I wish to.’
‘What is your name, Endless Witch?’
‘I am called Beatrice. And you are, Time Lord…?’
‘Romana.’
Beatrice stood up and gazed pensively out the window. ‘Welcome to Rokkenjima, Romana,’ she said.
Summary: Doctor Who/Umineko no Naku Koro ni crossover. It involves Romana. There are probably spoilers for ‘The End of Time’ and potentially the later arcs of Umineko.
Rated: PG, I guess?
Word count: 591
Warnings: As I said, spoilers. Also potential sapphic subtext.
Notes: Because this was one of the few things about ‘The End of Time’ that I consistently liked all the way through.
Chain
She lay there. She lay there for a very long time as everything fell to pieces around her.
Rassilon fell howling back into the current of whirling spirits, and with him the rest of the race. The Matrix arced, spasmed, linked through countless aeons, and went out. She found herself in the great gallery again, beneath an evening sky, and it was all gone away from her.
She had escaped the eras of destruction and resurrection, escaped the whirlpool. It was all clear to her now and she fell from the gallery into the great seas of Earth.
Washed up on a rock, she lay for a long time more, listening to the cries of strange birds, watching them wheel in Earth’s bluish-grey sky.
A woman came down to the beach. She was dressed elaborately for a human, in a red-bodiced dress with a great skirt of gold-embroidered blackness. Not black fabric, it seemed like the darkness itself pooled about her. Her hair was golder than gold, her eyes blue as the vortex of the past.
‘Hel-hel-’ said Romana. ‘I…hel…’
Hello? Help? Both-.
The woman took Romana up to a big house and laid her out on a bed and dressed her wounds.
‘I have,’ she said, ‘for centuries now, been trying to figure out what I should do in my days. Healing you is, I think, better than what could have been done.’
‘I should be dead,’ said Romana.
‘You should,’ the gold-haired woman agreed.
‘I should have died with them when…’
‘You should.’ The gold-haired woman sponged off Romana’s forehead. ‘Did you enjoy your time hanging about in that church, Romana?’
‘I did, sort of,’ said Romana. ‘Why?
‘Without love,’ the woman said, ‘it cannot be seen.’
‘What can’t?’
‘Anything.’ The gold-haired woman sighed. ‘My servants are out right now, but I assure you, it can be trying to deal with them in this position. They are furniture. I am not sure how they love, if they love, if they have their own way…’ She shook her head.
‘I loved a lot in my time,’ said Romana. She caught a mirror out of the corner of her eye. At some point in the process of coming to this place she had regenerated. She could not clearly see what she looked like now but it was much younger than before and with a strange shade of reddish hair. ‘I loved a lot…’
The golden woman nodded. ‘And so I was able to return you.’
‘Who are you?’ asked Romana.
‘I am the Endless Witch,’ said the golden woman. ‘I kill and resurrect, with love and without fail.’
‘Endless Witch?’ Romana laughed. ‘That’s silly…’
‘Any sillier than anything else? I don’t think so.’ The golden woman smiled indulgently. ‘Do you not believe in witches? Because it’s bad if you don’t believe in witches.’
‘I believe in witches,’ said Romana. ‘The Pythia, Pandora, the mindbombs, there’s a lot to believe in.’
‘So what’s silly?’
‘That anybody would think me worth saving.’
The golden woman smiled again. ‘Our lives are very long,’ she said. ‘We each had our loves. We each have our atonements. As it happens, some bad things happened twenty-five years ago and I’ve been here, only residual, since.’
‘Only residual? Will you die soon?’
‘I’m not sure that I can die even if I wish to.’
‘What is your name, Endless Witch?’
‘I am called Beatrice. And you are, Time Lord…?’
‘Romana.’
Beatrice stood up and gazed pensively out the window. ‘Welcome to Rokkenjima, Romana,’ she said.