Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Doctor Who, they all belong to the BBC. This is sort of a alternate origin of the Silence, as I frankly loathe the one introduced in the episode.
Doctor Who: Time of the Doctor (Alternate)
The Daleks were coming.
Of course the Daleks were ALWAYS coming. That was the problem. The other aliens attacking Trenzalore had either given up or been driven off, but the Daleks were relentless. They hated the Time Lords with a passion, and were determined to destroy them.
The Doctor's only allies were the Church of the Papal Mainframe, headed by his old friend Mother Superious Tasha Lem, who had mostly sealed the world away behind a force shield. But the Daleks were able to slip through, in more and more numbers, and they were fighting a increasingly desperate war.
The Doctor looked over the rim of the crater, noting that the Daleks were still a ways off. He ducked down, settling down for a rest as he looked at his wounded companion. The gangly, pale alien lay beside him, his suit dirty and bloody. The Silent, as they called themselves, were affiliated with the Church, and had fought to protect the town of Christmas. But in the past they had tried to kill the Doctor, for reasons he was still not entirely clear of.
The Silent coughed weakly, then reached out, "Doctor?"
"Yes?" the Doctor moved closer.
"Do you remember when we first fought?" the Silent asked.
The Doctor made a face, "Yes, on Earth."
The Silent managed a weak laugh. "It seems we were too successful," he mused. He looked at the other man, "It was much, much earlier, when you first left Gallifrey, before you even took on the name the Doctor."
"You..." the Doctor started, then blink. "Wait, you were..."
The Silent looked amused. "Yes, you and Susan landed on our world, and we welcomed you. We showed you our many museums and theaters, but secretly we coveted your advanced technology. So, when the chance came, we kidnapped your Susan and demanded the technology in return," he reminded him.
"And I got her back and damn near caused a civil war on your planet in the process," the Doctor nodded, his voice hard.
"You DID cause a civil war," the Silent corrected. "We fought, the war ended, and we were ashamed of what our greed caused. We determined to hide ourselves from the universe, from sight and memory."
The Doctor nodded slightly, "You developed that trick to make people forget you once they looked away..."
The Silent nodded sadly. "WE hid away, erasing our history and our shame. We were at peace." His voice changed, filling with loathing as he said, "Then YOU came back."
"Me? What did I do?" The Doctor asked.
"You became famous," the Silent said bitterly, "you fought Daleks and Cybermen, saved worlds and changed destinies."
The Doctor looked at him blankly, "And...?"
The Silent gave him a disgusted look, "And those you saved, they wondered about you. 'Doctor Who?' they asked. And as they searched, they stumbled over OUR past. Again and again."
The Doctor blinked and shook his head. "So you decided to go back in time and kill me, in the process causing the Battle of Demon's Run which, arguably, made me even more well known?"
There was a soft, sad laugh as the Silent admitted, "It may not have been one of our best thought out plans."
The Silent succumbed to his wounds not long after that, leaving the Doctor alone except for the advancing Daleks. It was sad, really... the Silents had obsessed over something he'd long ago forgotten. Worse, he really doubted anyone else in the universe would have even cared.
Off in the distance he heard the rumbling, Then the trail end of their usual phrase, 'Exterminate.' Time to go. As the Doctor got up, he gave another look at the Silent. He hoped that somewhere, there were a few Silents left over. He wouldn't want to be the cause of all of them dying out...
To be continued...?
Notes: DAMN was that short. Sorry. New Years kicked my ass.
Anyway, this was my reaction fic to the very DUMB origin the Silence was given in the latest special. I mean... Priests? That make you forget you confessed? WHAT? And WHY the hell would they have the power to shoot LIGHTNING out of their hands if they were priests?
Well, okay, if you consider them representatives of a real OLD TESTIMENT kinda god, maybe. But come on!
This short pretty much came from me wondering WHY the Silence might want to shut the Doctor up. I was reminded of one of the 50th anniversary trailers, about the Doctor 'running from something all of his lives.' What if one of his first adventures, even before he officially became the Doctor, went horribly wrong? And the Silence have been keeping it a secret ever since?