So, "long time reader, first time writer" and all that.. I've got an idea of where I want this stoy to go, but reviews with wishes as well as criticism/praise is highly appreciated. Just to make you aware of the following: english is not my first language and the story is 'Rated M' because "better safe than sorry", I'm not necessarily taking it in that direction, but... yeah.
This story do not contain 'The Doctor' per se, but it do/will contain a couple of familiar faces.
Also, it's quite short which might make it hard to review, but I promise that the updates will be longer, if anyone's interested.
I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review to let me know what I'll have to work with and whats good. Cheers!
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
~ Invictus, verse 1 – William E. Henley ~
I
Even as the last motes of dust settled, reflecting the now diminishing glow of brilliant light, she could feel it. The slow, steady sound of double-heartbeats. The familiar sound soothed her as the last effects of the regeneration process took its place, anxious to find out what it would bring this time.
«Bloody Sontarans...» she thought to herself. «That's the last time I'll ever try that again.»
Peeking under her eyelids to peer at the interiors of the TARDIS, she took a baffled half-step backwards exclaiming «This isn't how I left it at all!»
«And is this my voice now? It's all squeaky and... and... This is what I'm stuck with?!»
The sudden rush of emotions and impressions overwhelmed her still recovering senses, forcing her to take a hard grip of the buzzing steel railings of the TARDIS. After a few gulps of air, she strained her back straight, forcing all her feelings back inside the shield of her mind, as she had done countless times before.
«Foolish girl... There's some things not even you can control, but your own emotions is not one of those things.» Even her own quiet muttering seemed to solidify the shield keeping her still racing feelings inside. Straightening her back once again, she took a circle around herself taking in the new design of her TARDIS. «Right, lets see what we've got.»
II
After a few shaky steps to get her started, she skipped hastily around the console of her TARDIS, checking out all the new functions and screens. «Well this is new.» A quick grin bared her teeth as she begun her work. Flipping switches, pushing buttons and pulling levers, she eventually felt the slow purr of he TARDIS spread from the engine, through the walls and floor, until it finally reached the soles of her feet. The feeling of warmth from the TARDIS made the hair on her neck raise and her blood boil with new motivation.
«Take us away, old girl.» Peering up at the ceiling of the TARDIS, she felt her old companion take control, seemingly on her own. «Still not letting me steer are you? Even with your new, fancy look and all?» A slight tugging at her mind confirmed her suspicion and she let the tiniest of smiles ripple her lips. «Yeah, I suppose we're still quite alike, even if we've got our looks polished.» Another tugging at her mind awakened the previous, almost faded, smile.
«So, are you going to tell me where we're going?» She waited patiently for the tugging at her mind she thought would come, but as she listened to the continuous drumming of the TARDIS engine, no tug came. «Not even going to dignify me with a simple yes or no answer, are you?» Still, no response came. «Alright then. Give me the best you've got!»
III
As her faithful companion steered herself through the fabrics of time and space, she allowed herself some respite from the ever-impregnable shield of her mind, and shifted through her previous regenerations. Memories of everything from ivory skin and long curls of hair as black as the eternal darkness of Cimmeria IV to her previous mahogany look and glittering hair, that could have been taken straight out of the core of Midnight, the diamond planet.
"How many have we been through now?" The question, she knew, would not be answered. "Eight? Yeah, this is the eight one. Eight, in some 500-odd years." She quickly contemplated this, before she just as quickly discarded her conclusion of 500 years being far from long enough to already have gone through eight regenerations. "We'll have to be more careful in the future, or else we'll have to settle down soon and grow old together." A capillary wave of rumbles shook through the engine of the TARDIS. "Oi! Don't you laugh at me! It's not like you're going anywhere without me flying you." She knew full well that the TARDIS leaving her in the end could be a possible scenario, but as a soft growl-like rumble shook the TARDIS again, she murmured: "Yeah, that's what I thought."
IV
Lost in her own thoughts, she was quickly brought back as the TARDIS landed with a thump. "So, let's see what troubles you're bringing me into this time." Quickly skipping over the floors of her TARDIS, she started for the door, only to come to an abrupt stop a few feet from her new adventure. "I almost forgot! I still don't know what I look like!"
Just as she turned towards the console of the TARDIS she felt it again, the almost laugh-like rumble. "What?" Only silence answered her. "What?!" A rumble only slightly fainter than the last was audible. "Laugh at me all you want, you know that anything that happens to me, eventually affects you too."
She continued her fast-paced walk towards the middle of the floor. "And where have you happened to hide the mirror this time?" An inch-thick panel popped out of the console, reflecting the blinking lights and shifting shadows that covered the main room. "Well, at least that's a more convenient spot than the place you put it." Just as she uttered the words, she knew that last remark had been a mistake.
The blinking panels of the consoles flared up furiously and suddenly the console begun spinning.
"Stop that! I won't have your melodramatics while I'm standing here, not even knowing what size my bra is!" Looking down at her flat chest, she muttered almost inaudibly: "I'm not even sure if this body got breasts." The spinning consoles slowed down, as the low chortles of the TARDIS resumed.
"Right, lets see then." But as she stretched for the silver lined frame encapsulating the mirror, it raised itself only slightly outside of her reach. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Stretching to reach the mirror, she quickly realized she was being played with. Letting her hand fall to her face, she let it brush the contours of her jaw, feeling a slight stubble of hair spread unevenly across it.
" A beard? I'm not supposed to have a beard, am I?" Only barely noticing that the chortles of the TARDIS had intensified into a poorly hidden laughter, her eyes flew open as realization dawned upon her and a sentence, barely a whisper, escaped her now tightly closed lips. "Please no." Taking a hard grasp of the lining of her pants, she pulled them a few inches from her waist before closing her eyes, tilting her head forward and taking a deep breath as she opened them hesitantly. "Well, this is... new." Closing her eyes again, she let the air filling her lungs escape, hearing her TARDIS not even trying to contain the fit of laughter.