Set: A short while after Last of the Timelords.
Summary: Jack and Martha decide to stay with the Doctor after the year that never was. After a few adventures, the TARDIS takes them to an unknown planet that may be hell on earth. The Doctor goes missing and must fight against his worst fears to keep his sanity while Martha and Jack struggle to save him and survive.
Warning: This story has very dark themes and torture (both physical and psychological). Rated M to be safe.
"Where to next? We could go see the Fall of Fire on Valamity. It's a waterfull of fire, you see. Or the 3013 festival on Pluto! They have lovely festivals. Or we could go to Abredy. They have 126 moons! And if we do it right, we could arrive right when all 126 are full! Brilliant!" the Doctor said, looking at his two passengers.
Jack and Martha were sitting on the seat in front of the console; Jack with a smile, arms crossed and Martha watching with a look of humor as the Doctor ran excitedly around the controls of the TARDIS.
"Considering we almost got mauled a few hours ago, I think I'd like somewhere nice and relaxing," Martha said.
"Mauled? That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" the Doctor said.
"That thing almost ate my face off!" Martha exclaimed.
"It came close," Jack affirmed.
"Oh, he was harmless. And it wasn't a thing. It was a Marblur. He was frightened, was all."
"He was frightened?"
Jack laughed.
The Doctor opened his mouth to retort when suddenly the TARDIS lurched, flinging its passengers onto the floor. The unmistakable sound of the engine whirring stirred the Doctor from his surprised stupor on the floor and he heaved himself up, quickly going over the controls. He flipped switches and pressed and swiveled buttons.
"What's wrong, what's wrong?" he said.
"What's happening, Doctor?" Jack asked, grabbing hold of a bar and pulling himself up.
"I don't know. Apparently our next stop has been decided for us," he replied just as the TARDIS came to a stop.
Martha pushed herself up from the floor. "Where are we Doctor?"
The Doctor moved away from the controls and grabbed his coat from where it hung between two of the TARDIS's coral pillars. He gave Martha a shrug. "No idea. Let's find out, shall we? Allon-sy!" With that, he opened the door and stepped outside.
Jack and Martha followed after him, stepping out into near-complete darkness.
"Hmm..." the Doctor mused. "It's quite dark, isn't it?"
"That's a bit of an understatement," Jack said sarcastically. He knelt and picked up a handful of black dirt. He recoiled his hand as the painfully sharp grains of dirt cut into his hand. "Ow. It's like glass."
"Maybe it is?" Martha suggested.
"Come on," the Doctor said, walking ahead into the darkness. Jack and Martha followed him silently, listening to the crunches of their footsteps.
"If this is glass, it's everywhere," Jack said.
"It's not glass. It's just very sharp dirt," the Doctor said.
"How do you know? Do you know where we are?" Martha asked, looking ahead at the shadows of looming mountains.
"I know because of the smell. It's a dirt smell. And as far as I know, glass doesn't smell like dirt and dirt doesn't smell like glass. Wouldn't that be strange? Glass that smelled like dirt. It would be like cats that smelled like dogs. Or fish that smelled like birds. Or-"
"Doctor," Martha said.
"Hm? Oh, sorry. Rambling again, aren't I? Anyway, no I still don't know where we are. I don't think I've been here before. Isn't that something? It'll be a first for all of us!" he said and despite the darkness, both Martha and Jack could practically see the giddy grin on the Doctor's face.
"Hey, what's that up ahead?" Jack said.
The Doctor turned and was surprised to find that he could see Jack pointing, which meant light. He turned back around just as several sets of lights zoomed over their heads and soared in the other direction.
"What were those?" Martha asked, watching as they flew away.
"Looked like small ships," Jack said. "Most likely scout ships."
"Where do you think they're going? Maybe a city?"
"One way to find out. Come on," the Doctor said, grabbing Martha's hand and leading them back the other way to follow the lights.
They walked blindly, keeping their eyes on the fading sets of lights ahead. Though Martha and Jack struggled tremendously with the bumpy, sharp terrain, the Doctor had little trouble navigating through the darkness. He never slipped and didn't loose his way when the lights had long past their vision. Being a Time Lord had its perks.
After fifteen minutes of walking, the three of them stopped abruptly when there was a blinding flash of light up ahead. They shielded their eyes as the light spread.
"Doctor, what is that?" Martha asked.
The Doctor was silent, staring ahead in horror as realization struck him.
"Doctor, what is it?" Jack repeated Martha's question, touching the Doctor's shoulder with the hand he wasn't using to shield his eyes.
"It's a planet..." the Doctor replied, his voice heavy. The Doctor could clearly see what was happening thanks to the light of the explosion. From where they stood, he could see a planet on the horizon, sprinkled here and there with the tiny lights from a city or town. It was being fired upon by the ships Jack had spotted and they were leaving nothing untouched. It was being decimated. He could hear cries and screams of fear and terror, heard the heartbeat of the planet itself slowly dying away until it completely stopped. Soon larger ships were appearing, firing upon the planet as well. They stopped only when the planet suddenly broke apart, pieces seperating from each other in charred heaps. There was nothing left.
The ships turned and flew towards them and then over their heads; back into the darkness, which was slowly returning as the fires of the other planet died out.
The Doctor stared at where the planet had been, stunned. His fists closed and tensed to the point that they began to shake.
"Doctor?" Martha asked timidly.
The Doctor felt anger boiling up inside him and knew that if he tried to speak now, he would just end up screaming. So he turned on his heel and started walking the other way, his pace quick and determined.
Martha and Jack quickly followed after him, struggling to keep up.
"What happened?" the Doctor heard Martha whisper behind him.
"Did you see the planet?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
"They killed it." The Doctor could hear the anger in Jack's voice as he said it.
"The whole thing?" Martha asked in shocked disbelief.
"It and everyone on it," the Doctor answered.
"That's against galactic law," Jack said. "Committing a crime like that is practically a death-wish. The Shadow Proclamation will-"
"The Shadow Proclamation doesn't know it's happened," the Doctor said.
"What?"
"They don't know its happened because its out of their jurisdiction," the Doctor replied. He looked around the blackness, down at the ground and then at the sky. He couldn't see many stars. The sky looked blurred with a black mist, but the stars he could make out he recognized.
"You know where we are then?" Martha asked hopefully.
"For the most part. It's hard to say since we're moving," the Doctor replied.
"Moving?"
"Yes."
"So, we're on a ship?" Martha asked.
"No, not exactly. It's a planet. A small one," the Doctor said.
"Then how are we moving?"
"Well, its a planet that's been made into a ship. And judging by the stars, I'd say we're somewhere around the Zueda 76 Galaxy."
"76? How many Zueda's are there?" Martha asked.
"76. Shadow Proclamation rarely comes out this far," the Doctor said. He stopped and spun around in a circle, looking around perplexedly. "Well, almost never. Well... never. Anyway. We need to find the TARDIS."
"Find... as in we lost it?" Jack asked.
"If by lost you mean this is where I left it and its not here anymore, then yes," the Doctor said, running a hand through his hair.
"It's gone?" Martha asked in alarm. She had been holding Jack's arm for support and now she clutched it even tighter.
"Not gone, just not here," the Doctor said. "Don't panic! Don't panic! Let's see... well, it has to be somewhere."
"Hey, Doc, let's find a town. See if anyone's seen it and maybe find out why and who did that to that planet," Jack suggested and the Doctor was certain he had his hand on his gun.
"Fine, but for now that gun remains in its holster," the Doctor said warningly. "I mean it, I don't want to see it out. It may be dark, but I'll know."
Jack nodded his agreement, then realized that he couldn't see him, so said yes.
They found a town fifteen minutes later, sitting at the foot of one of the dark mountains. It had lights, but it did not seem to help illuminate anything. They were only really useful if you were within five feet of them.
It wasn't really a town though. From what they could see, it was really more of a barracks. It had very plain, dark buildings with no signs or numbers or any way of differentiating them. They were all the same size and shape and lined the streets evenly in rows.
The Doctor, Jack and Martha entered the town silently, discovered to their unease that no one was out. The streets were quiet and still.
"I don't know about you, but I don't like this at all," Jack said. "It's too quiet. In my experience, quiet means bad."
"Shh!" Martha hissed.
"I'm just-"
"SHH!"
"Sorry!" Jack whispered indignantly.
"It's alright, Martha, no one's here," the Doctor said. "Well, maybe one someone. Well, three. Well, quite a few. Okay, a lot, but they're not going to hurt us."
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, if they were, they would have already. We're surrounded, after all."
"What?" Martha nearly shouted. Jack quickly shushed her and put a hand on his gun, peering blindly into the darkness.
"Oi, no, no guns!" the Doctor admonished.
"But-"
"I said no," the Doctor said. He looked into the darkness and raised his hands. "Stay here," he whispered to Jack and Martha. Then, he stepped away from them and towards where he thought the largest group of whatever had surrounded them was. "Hello!" he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor."
At first, there was silence, but as the Doctor patiently listened, he finally heard a scratched, raspy voice speak, "Doctor..." The voice was violent, ugly and it made Jack and Martha throw their hands over their ears to block it out. The Doctor nearly did as well, but managed to keep his hands in his pockets. In all of his travels, he had never heard anything as foul as that. It sounded wrong; like everything filthy and ugly and hateful had been mixed together.
"Yes, I'm the Doctor and these are my friends Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness. And who am I speaking to?"
"Legion," the voice answered.
"Hello," the Doctor said, keeping his voice calm and controlled. "Good to meet you. Now, can you help us? See, I've lost my box. It's a big blue box. I had it parked out there on the outskirts of your... town, I suppose you'd call it. Is this a town? More like a military base, but you're not military, otherwise you wouldn't be hiding. What was I saying? Oh, yes, my box. Yes, its a big blue box and its hard to miss. That being said, you must be wondering how I lost it. Well-"
"You speak too much," a new voice said darkly.
"I do tend to ramble. And what do I call you?"
"Legion," the voice answered.
"You're both Legion?" Jack asked. "Run out of names?"
"We are many," the voices answered in unison, joined by more ugly, foul voice. This time, Martha and Jack kept their hands at their sides, but their faces scrunched in looks of disgust.
"So you are," the Doctor said. "Well, I don't suppose any of you have seen my box?"
Silence.
"Alright, then maybe you can tell me who destroyed that planet half an hour ago," the Doctor said, his voice constricted anger as he thought of the dying screams. "Who did it?"
"Legion," the voices answered.
"You did?" Martha asked, her voice sounding tiny and timid.
"No, not us. Legion did it," a voice answered and though this voice was just as foul as the rest, the Doctor was fairly certain that it was young.
"What do they mean, Doctor?" Martha asked.
"They can't differentiate from each other," the Doctor said. "They mean someone else."
"Who then?" Martha asked.
"Legion!" another voice answered, its voice dripping hatred. "Legion did it! It was his will!"
"Hold on," the Doctor said. "Whose will? Someone who isn't Legion?"
"We dare not speak his name," one of the voices said, this one with hate and fear.
"He gets his own name? He must be very important," the Doctor said. "Where can I find him? I need to have a little talk wiith him."
"Talk? No. There will be no talking," a voice said. Several growls echoed through the darkness around them and the Doctor stepped back towards Jack and Martha, looking around nervously.
"Well, alright, thank you for your time. We'll be going then," the Doctor said. He began to slowly usher Jack and Martha backward. He heard Jack pull out his gun and didn't stop him. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and was fairly certain they had overstayed their welcome.
"Going? You must not go."
"Oh, we're quite busy looking for my box. I'm afraid we can't stay," the Doctor said.
"Yes, very busy, but thank you for your help," Martha said.
"You must stay. Legion wants you to stay."
"I bet you do, you nasty-" Jack began, but the Doctor quickly hushed him.
"Don't antagonize them," he hissed.
" You must stay. Legion will tell you where your box is, but you must stay," the young voice said.
The Doctor stopped. "Where's my box?" he asked.
"You must stay."
"Tell me where my box is," the Doctor said, his voice becoming angrier and he stepped towards the voice. This immediately caused a stir amongst the beings in the dark, for they hissed and growled, but the Doctor could hear fear in it; not anger.
"He has it. Stay, stay," the young voice answered.
The Doctor paused at the shadow and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it and then pressed the button, letting the small device whistle and the blue light to glow. He had just wanted to get a reading to figure out what it was he was talking to, but the beings suddenly howled and snarled and started running around and the Doctor finally caught a glimpse of one...
And immediately wished he hadn't.
If their voices had been terrible, their appearance far succeeded it. Some looked human, some Slitheen, some Graske, Draconian, Silurian, and more aliens that the Doctor recognize, but all of them were deformed. They were skeletal, covered in a leathery skin. All of them were hunched, crawling around on wrinkled hands and feet. Their faces had no mouths, no noses, no ears; only large and completely gray eyes, as though blind.
The Doctor stared at them in wide-eyed horror, frozen to the spot and behind him he could hear Martha crying.
The young being scurried into the Doctor's view and looked up at him. It was smaller than the rest, but its seemed to be unnaturally weak. He could see that it was struggling to move and simply couldn't get away from the Doctor's still pointed sonic screwdriver no matter how hard it tried.
The Doctor felt a tear fall down his cheek and his hand fell limply at his side. He knelt down, watching the young being as it struggled to move, but it suddenly stopped and stared at him with wide eyes.
"What happened to you?" the Doctor asked.
It stared at him silently.
"He did!
" a voice shouted and more shouts followed this, each heavy with sorrow and pain. "He did! Stay!"
The Doctor looked around and though he still couldn't see very well, he could tell that they had all come out of their hiding places and were staring at him.
He looked up at them, tears blurring his vision. His mind reeled and he thought for a moment he might pass out, but slowly he rose to his feet and turned to Martha and Jack, who were both staring around in the same wide-eyed horror that he had. Martha was still crying and now she covered her mouth and shut her eyes to the grotesque scene. Jack looked up at the Doctor and he could see the vengeance in his eyes.
"Doctor..." he said.
The Doctor stared at him, not daring to look around for fear that he would simply fall apart. Instead, in the strongest, resolute tone he could muster, he said, "Let's find Him."