Drabble: Before You Came

[wendymr]

Something a little different from me - a second-person drabble. But this one insisted on being written that way.

Fic: Before You Came
Author: wmr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Ninth Doctor (sort of)
Summary: You follow, coat flapping at your heels, desperate to catch another glimpse of the unawakened wonder in her eyes.

For christn7,

Comments

[ameretrifle]

I have a thing for second person, so I chanced it even though it's Ten. Excellent.

And the second one is the best horror fic I believe I've ever read. *huddles up in extra blankets* I hope it'd just be a dream; what scares me is, it's perfectly in character. In retaliation, to preserve my own peace of mind, please forgive me if I continue:

You've been watching them, like you've got a feeling he watched you: you've been praying and praying to every god you don't believe in that a different explanation would turn up, any different explanation, anything-- but the taste of the anamoly, the way she's just-visibly unnerved by how well he knows her-- there is no other explanation, and you've never felt so queasy, not even when you were dying.

He points her toward a shop, lets her out of his sight; you grab his arm, hard, and pull him into the alley. God, it is you. You'd been hoping that somehow it wasn't-- cloned, brainwashed, anything, anything-- and the look in his eyes says he knows why you're here

[wendymr]

Wow. That's brilliant :) Seriously, I love it.

First, I don't see my drabble as entirely in character for Ten - you know, a lot of fans would see the 'destroying the universe to get Rose back' as more in character for Nine, but I think they're both capable of sacrificing their own wants for the good of the universe and of being selfish when they feel like it. I think that, if Ten were ever to do something like that drabble of mine above, he'd have to be driven to his limits and beyond, for example right after Voyage of the Damned, when he would have been so incredibly broken after all those losses, between LotTL and VotD.

That said, I love what you did here. Not a drabble, but a brilliant ficlet, and... I think we should do more with this. What do you think?

If you're interested, let's take it to email - I'm at wendy at lcfanfic dot com.

[kae_nine]

Yep, fascinating. Because by taking her hand first, Ten certainly messed up with the timeline big time. Like wendymr says, after VoTD he's so broken, so tired of losing everyone he cares for, that he might actually stop caring about the rules. In any case, I'm pining for a full-length story about this issue!

[catsfiction]

God that sent shivers down my spine. It pins down a moral hollowness in Ten by the end of S3 that Nine never visibly sunk to, even at his most cruel and cynical. I hope you two work together on something - it would be as gripping as "Cheating Time", and that's saying a lot.

[kae_nine]

Thanks, Wendy, I really, really needed that as a break from work. :) So sad, so bittersweet, so wonderful, too, because it brings us back to the beginning... I love it! Oh and I also love seeing the very first encounter between Nine and Rose through Ten's eyes. Fantastic!

[kae_nine]

Woooo... just realised (okay, you did tell me, granted, so that's cheating a bit) that it's actually Ten taking Rose's hand this time! Wow! Now I HAVE to see what happens next. Going to read ameretrifle to know some more about it. ;)

[wendymr]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked all of these :) So many possibilities, when you have time-travel, a man who can change his face and a woman he loves very much indeed but whom he loses. And when he loses everyone else he cares about, all in a short space of time :(

[nightrider101]

Sad and so beautiful.

You gave her the stars. She gave you her universe.

And you’ll never ask if it’d be better had you never taken her hand.

Such if the life of the Doctor and his Rose.

Thank you for sharing!

[wendymr]

Thank you! And, if you haven't already, do skim through the comments - there's another drabble (from me) and a Nine-POV follow-up from ameritrifle in there :)

[earlgreytea68]

It amazes me how much emotion you're able to pack into such a small amount of words.

[wendymr]

Thank you very much! That's the greatest compliment I could have on my drabbles, and I really appreciate it. :)