"Let her go!" The Doctor shouted frantically, well Adric and Nyssa watched in horror as Tegan, struggling desperately against the guards, was frog-marched out of the room.
The Viceroy looked up from the remains of the golden vase, shattered into a thousand fragments. "I do not accept your counsel at this time, Time Lord. That urn was sacred to my people."
"She tripped!" Protested the Doctor. "It was an accident!"
"Negatory."
The Doctor's blue eyes locked with the Viceroy's pure black ones, and the tension filled the air for what seemed like an eternity, but, according to Adric, was only ten seconds.
"I'll go." Said the Doctor, in a resigned sort of way. "According to your customs, I may take her place."
"What?" Asked Adric.
"But, Doctor!" Protested Nyssa, both of the geniuses shooting up.
"Are you sure?" Asked the Viceroy blandly. "For all your knowledge is worth, you could be volunteering yourself for execution."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Said the Doctor grimly. The Viceroy nodded at the guards, who stepped forwards.
"Take him for the punishment for the vase. Let the purple female go... No." The Viceroy said. "Make her watch the proceedings. She must accept responsibility for her actions."
"DOCTOR!" Shouted Nyssa as he was escorted away.
"He will not be executed." Stated the Viceroy.
"That's hardly a reassurance." Muttered Adric.
—•—•—
'I really hate that woman.' Thought Tegan as she struggled against the scientist strapping her to a metal table. 'Or whatever the Viceroy is. That wasn't even a nice looking vase.'
The scientist finished with the straps and was about to inject something into her when the Doctor came in, accompanied by guards. The scientist paused, then nodded and began unstrapping Tegan.
"Doctor!" Said Tegan gleefully. "Thank goodness! I knew you'd talk them out of it!"
"Tegan..." Said the Doctor, smiling at her faintly. The last strap was undone and Tegan stepped down.
"Yes?" She asked. "What is it?..." She noted the smile, the same smile that he used whenever something dreadful was about to happen. "Doctor..." A tinge of worry crept into her voice as the guards ushered him forward and the scientist began strapping him in. "What are you doing!?"
"Taking your punishment." He said.
"What!?" Shouted Tegan. She moved forwards, but the guards held her back.
"No worries."
"No worries?" Spluttered Tegan. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" The scientist eyed her as he finished the straps.
"Brave heart, Tegan." Said the Doctor as the scientist gave him the injection. The Doctor gasped, and his eyes went wide, as though someone'd snuck up and startled him.
Then he went silent, not moving at all, except for the rise and fall of his chest, and his face went almost expressionless, with exception of fragments of fear that kept popping up. The scientist watched coldly, giving him another shot every so often, and when he did, the Doctor winced, before going back to the unemotional mask. It kept happening that way, like clockwork, until the first whimper.
On one of the injections, the Doctor squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered like a child afraid of the monsters in his closet.
"What're you doing to him?" Asked Tegan, turning to look at one of the guards. He looked at her, then shook his head, grabbing her head and turning it to face the Doctor. 'That's right.' Thought Tegan. 'The males don't have vocal cords. Lovely.'
The Doctor's reactions to the injections were getting worse. He looked horrified, but was doing his best to ignore it, like suppressing a bad dream.
'This is all my fault.' Thought Tegan. 'If I hadn't tripped and broken that pot, none of this would have happened. The Doctor wouldn't be going through this insane torture! Why'd he have to do this? Why couldn't he have let me take my own punishment? Devil's teeth! Then he would be safe, maybe aboard the TARDIS with Adric and Nyssa, waiting for her to come back. The Doctor would have hugged me, Adric would have made some smart remark about how clumsy I was, then Nyssa would have rebuked him, and we'd have gone on our jolly way. But now-'
Tegan's vision started blurring up and she wiped away the tears brimming in her eyes. This was nuts. This was absolutely-
"Tegan?"
Tegan's head shot up as she looked at the Doctor. Was it over? No... The Doctor was staring into space, like he had been for the past five minutes. "Tegan, it's-" His joyful expression melted into a look of horror. "No! Let her go!" He shouted. "Let her GO! TEGAN!" He started sobbing. "No... Tegan..."
Tegan felt like crying too, her heart breaking as she watched the Doctor go through a new nightmare each time the scientist gave him an injection of that strange fluid. She wanted to scream at them, and she did, but the scientist just glared at her and gave him another injection, using her protest as fuel for another nightmare. Tegan didn't say anything after that, only crying softly as the Doctor went through torture after torture after torture and she could only watch.
After what seemed like eternity, the scientist gave the Doctor a different injection, the fluid was lighter than the previous shots, and began unstrapping him as the guards escorted Tegan away, back to the TARDIS.
Nyssa opened the door and ushered Tegan inside, glaring at the guards before slamming the doors shut in their faces.
"Tegan, where's the Doctor?" Asked Adric. Tegan sat down in a chair which had not been there when they left and put her face in her hands, shaking from tears that wouldn't stop.
"Th-they're unstrapping him from that table." She said. "It was awful, they kept injecting him with this fluid."
"We looked it up." Said Nyssa. "He should be fine."
"It's all my fault." Said Tegan. "If I hadn't broken that vase..."
"You probably would have angered them in another way." Said Adric. Nyssa shot him a look, the turned back to Tegan.
"Is he alright?" Asked Nyssa.
"I don't know." Said Tegan. "He was a wreak when they brought me over. Oh gosh, it's all my fault." Her voice broke and she started sobbing again. Nyssa patted her back as Adric answered a knock on the door.
"Do not come back." Said the Viceroy as the guards deposited the Doctor on the floor inside the TARDIS, then they walked away.
The Doctor curled up into a ball on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to block out the awful nightmares that wouldn't stop. He saw everything ending, dying in fear and pain as Sutekh raged about the stars, destroying everything. He was wearing necklaces made of skulls, the skin rotted and cut beyond recognition, but the Doctor knew exactly who they were. Susan, Sarah Jane, Romana, they were all there. All of his companions. He felt the pain of a thousand Daleks exterminating him, and then he was burning in the heart of a star.
Then the Black Guardian was there, and he had him under his control. The Doctor couldn't stop himself from taking a knife and stabbing Tegan over and over until she was a pile of blood and bones and torn meat. Then she lifted her head up, or what must have been her head, now an unrecognizable piece of flesh, and she tried to tell him something, but all that came out was blood. He wanted to scream, wanted to weep, wanted to stab himself with that same, bloody, knife, but all he could do was stand there, spattered in her blood, looking down at what was left of Tegan Jovanka.
—•—•—
"Doctor!" Shouted Adric, shaking the Doctor's shoulder. "Get up!"
"Stop it!" Said Nyssa, swatting at his hand. "You're only making it worse!"
The Doctor was curled up in a ball under his covers, whimpering as his companions tried to rouse him.
"C'mon." Said Nyssa after a while. "Let's get something to eat, then go to bed. We're no use tired."
"I'm not hungry." Muttered Tegan. "Go on ahead."
Adric and Nyssa looked at each other, silently agreeing that Tegan needed some alone time, then left for the kitchen.
"There." Said Tegan, brushing a lock of hair away from the Doctor's face. "This is much better than the floor of the console room, isn't it?" She waited for a bit, not really expecting an answer.
"You can be so stupid sometimes." Muttered Tegan. "You shouldn't have one through that, not for stupid little me. Stupid, clumsy little me. Why do you even keep me around? I do nothing but cause trouble. I'm not smart, like Adric or Nyssa. I'm not special. I'm just a stowaway air stewardess. But you took... That for me! What was going through your head, huh?" She looked at the Doctor again. "C'mon. Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP DANGIT!" She smacked the bed, then sniffled. "Oh, Doctor..."
She buried the face in the comforter. "Just please, wake up." She sobbed.
—•—•—
As his nightmares cleared, the Doctor opened one eye and saw Tegan laying on his bed, sprawled over from a chair.
"Tegan?" He murmured groggily. She hummed a positive reply, and the Doctor realized she was half-asleep.
"Come on." He muttered, gently pulling her up onto the bed next to him, scooting over, then wrapping her in the comforter. "It's alright." He muttered. "You're alright."
"I was worried about you." She murmured. "I feel bad about it."
"Don't feel badly about it." Said the Doctor. "I'm fine."
"It was all my fault." She hummed, rolling over to face him. "If I hadn't tripped and broken that vase."
"It's fine Tegan." Said the Doctor, giving her a hug. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat, rather than let you go through that." Tegan didn't respond, and he realized she'd fallen asleep.
Holding her close, the Doctor reflected on the past day's... Experience.
"Never, ever," he whispered, "will I let anyone hurt you." Tegan unconsciously responded by rolling over and snuggling up against him. The Doctor smiled, drifting off to sleep, leaving a strange scene for Adric and Nyssa in the morning.
Unicorn Plushie: Tegan offered out a hit for Bloody, so I'll be doing this... Author's note... Thingy. Right. Bloody doesn't own Doctor Who, she does own me and the plot, and the aliens. Yeah. Expect the edit for The Adventures/Diary of Emma Tanaka soon. U.P. is out! Peace!