This is my first story on my new account, very exciting hehe! Hope you all enjoy! X
'We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…'
Clara paced down the long narrow and rather spooky halls of the hotel, puffing and panting. She stopped at a corner to catch her breath, wiping a pool of sweat off her forehead. Someone or something was after her and the Doctor and in the midst of all that running, the running that never seemed to stop, she had lost the Doctor.
As soon as the Doctor had received distress calls from the planet 'Otelia' two long days ago, Clara's gut had churned and wrenched, she knew that something wasn't right from the beginning. The entire planet contained this one hotel, and was well known for its delicacy in aptitude to fine services and accommodation provided to all.
To Clara and the Doctor though, something wasn't right about the tall, gloomy and creaky hotel and things hadn't changed since they had arrived, in fact nothing seemed too out of place, and there was a large absence of people, of sound...
Just then Clara heard a large roar and jumped slightly before taking a few deep breaths, ready to run off again. She raced off turning a few more corners before dashing into a room and falling straight into the Doctor who was scanning the room with his sonic screwdriver. She gasped, finally she had found him again.
The Doctor, as calm as ever continued scanning as he spoke to her, not looking at her yet and observing the worn out and terrified look on her face.
"Oh hello there Clara, nice of you to pop back in." he spoke softly, and collected, as he continued to still scan.
"Boy, am I glad to see you." she whispered frantically, as she breathed heavily and quickly, for more air.
"Why are you so-" he began but Clara interrupted him.
"Puffed?" she stated, rather than questioned.
"That's the one." he said before looking at her, eyes widening. "Clara, you look terrible!" he said.
"Gee, thanks Doctor." she said plainly, the dark shade of redness in her cheeks slowly starting to fade, now that she was starting to catch her own breath. It seemed to run away a lot being with the Doctor.
"That thing was still chasing me." she said boldly.
"Was it?" he asked, "I thought that I had moved him along..." he said. He then pulled her into a gentle hug, he could tell she was rather frightened and shaken up.
Clara buried her head into his chest and wrapped her small arms around him as far as they could reach. She loved to hug the Doctor, and the simple truth was, he loved to hug her too. They had become very close recently, they both very much enjoyed each other's company.
"Him?" she asked, inquisitively then, not moving away from him.
"Debvass." he stated clearly. "A form of the Giantopia species. Not sure why he is here yet, big fella, usually harmless." he spoke again pulling back from her with a small smile. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Clara nodded both a yes and a sign of interest, listening carefully to him. She went to speak but suddenly heard the sound of a distinct roar again. Her body shuddered and the Doctor took her hand, "run." he said, and they were off again.
The Doctor and Clara ran through several rooms, and around several corners before finding the TARDIS again and jumping back inside. Once they were inside Clara almost fell to the ground, she was used to all this running, so why was she so worn out in such a short time? Her body began to shake rapidly, and she felt rather warm.
The Doctor came to her side quickly and sat beside her feeling her forehead. "Clara, you're burning up." he said, an apprehensive tone to his voice.
She didn't reply and the Doctor become even more concerned. "Clara." he said softly.
She looked at him. "Hmm?"
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, more to himself, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and scanning her.
"Bentics…" he said. The air was filled with it throughout the hotel but my scan didn't pick it up until now. It's developed into your system and attacked your cells, wearing you down slowly. Debvass must have realised it so he could slow things down, and in hindsight make things quicker for himself…But for what!?" he asked himself. "What's he doing here?" he asked again. "His species is usually very harmless, they are very ancient and I haven't seen them around for a very long time, hundreds upon hundreds of years in fact..." he said. "Good news is I can inject you with a serum that will both counteract the symptoms of the contagion and block it from reaching your system again." he said. "I'll be right back." he told her gently and kissed her temple, delicately.
"I'm fine." she said before he left but he quickly ran off to the medical room before coming back just as quickly, and then replied to her.
"No you're not Clara." he said. He gently pulled the sleeve of her shirt up. "A small sting." he said and Clara squinted, she hated needles. He inserted the serum into her quickly placing a Band-Aid on after and kissing it with a small smile.
"All better." he said in a teasing tone, he couldn't help it.
"Rude." she said wiping her forehead again.
"The serum should kick in almost immediately, give it a minute or two and you will be jumping up and down and ready to race off again." he chuckled.
She giggled slightly pulling the sleeve of her shirt back down. "I always have to be ready to race off with you anyway." she gave him a small smile, biting down on her lip gently.
"That is true." he said. "We're always running, always falling through space and time, just you and me." he said. "We cling to the skin of this universe and we can't let go, we never can."
Clara already began to feel better. "Maybe we can, just this time, or at least, make it look like we have." she said, hopping up beside him with her thinking face on.
"What are you thinking Oswald?" he asked.
"You said it yourself…" she began, "you don't know why Debvass is here and he is trying to get rid of everybody so he can do whatever it is that he wants to do." she spoke quickly, she was on a roll. "If we let go, if we look like we disappear then maybe we can find out." she said.
"Clara, you wonderful human!" he bounced happily and kissed her forehead firmly, placing his hands on either side of her blushed cheeks.
She laughed, unsure of herself. "I don't exactly know what I suggested, just what you said, kind of spoke to me..."
"And that it did!" he said. "You are brilliant Clara!" he bounced again before running to the other side of the console. He activated a setting that made the sound of the TARDIS materializing before making it invisible and set the console's television on, connecting to the various surveillance around the hotel.
Clara followed him around and looked at the screen with him, standing closely beside him.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared on a wall of the hotel before a body appeared, but not just any body, it was Debvass. He was over eight foot tall, and his feet were loud as he stomped through the hotel floors, not paying attention to being careful or quiet now. He gave an eerie look at the camera and sneered before continuing on, groaning loud noises as he walked. He was heavy and giant like, his rounded body covered in brown scales.
The Doctor and Clara watched intently, following each movement he took with their eyes. Suddenly Debvass sat down with a loud bang as to how heavy he was and held out a chip that had been in the palm of his hand the whole time. He laughed loudly to himself, that chip would be inserted into the planet's database and blow it up. Revenge he liked to call it, the other alien species that were running the hotel on the planet Otelia had taken over the land that used to be for Debvass' species.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow then looked at Clara, Clara had a raised eyebrow as well.
"What do you think that is?" she asked curiously, looking at him.
"This planet." he said and tapped his forehead quickly and repetitively. "I've heard of it before." he spoke again, tapping faster now.
Clara looked at him, a blank look on her face. "What did you say the species were called?" she asked, and the Doctor answered, soon after.
"Giantopia." he replied.
"I read about them in the library." she said, now remembering, where they were from, what they were like..." she began.
"Clara, I could kiss you!" he said with a toothy grin. "Otopia, of course. This is their planet of origin!" he said before running out of the TARDIS.
Clara still hadn't said anything or moved, hardly noticing the Doctor was gone. Her face had turned a bright pink in astonishment of what the Doctor had just said. And, in hindsight, she could only wish.
"You don't need to do this!" he said, his sonic screw driver out as he scanned the chip running towards Debvass.
Debvass stood up and stomped and growled. Just then Clara snapped back into action and looked at the camera, and what was going on. She ran out to find the Doctor then.
"Leave now." Debvass growled deeply.
"Your species." he said. "You were born here, created here. I know." the Doctor said calmly. Clara approached him then, a gentle hand to his back to let him know that she was there. He reached behind him to her and took her hand pulling her beside him. He then continued speaking. "I can get it back for you, it doesn't have to end like this." he said. "My planet was taken away from me too." he said, now softly. "Gallifrey." he almost whispered. Clara squeezed his hand, she knew it was beyond hard for him to talk about, hard was an understatement.
Debvass growled again stomping off towards the database of the hotel, where all the staff were tied up, the ones that had not yet left in fear, or hadn't had the chance too. All of the visitors had of course left, or had been extinguished by Debvass.
"No, wait." the Doctor said following him. "I have somewhere your species and you can live, happily and peacefully." he said.
Debvass continued stomping off, he wanted what was his, and he wanted revenge. When the new species had taken over this planet they had killed off many of his own, he had to of course make it even, justice needed to be served.
Clara then ran forward to him. "Debvass!" she attempted to say loudly, but it only came out softly as she was unsure of herself. She cleared her throat. "Please, just listen to me." she said.
The Doctor stayed silent and let her speak. "When I was a little girl..." she began, her voice become louder now." I lived in this beautiful two story house that I adored." she said. "When my mother and father sold it and we moved away I was convinced as I was packing up my things that someone was taking it away from us, that wherever we had to go wouldn't be better, and that I would never feel as safe or as happy as I once did in this house." she continued. "I was born there and I was raised there for the first seven years of my life, I was convinced nothing would ever feel the same again." she said. "We moved to a new house of course, and it wasn't as lovely as the first. It was old and creaky, and I hated it." she sighed, reminiscing back to the past as she told her story. "But I met people, people like me. And as I grew older I learnt that it wasn't always about where you were but about what you had. My mother always used to tell me that home is where the heart is. My heart grew for my friends and family, the people like me, I guess you could call them my species." she said. "And I was at home. It doesn't matter where you are, it is about who you are with." she finished.
A tear ran down Debvass' stony and scaly cheek as he listened to Clara speak. He then smashed the chip with his rock hard fist and saluted her before looking at the Doctor.
"Show me my new home." he said.
The Doctor grinned and kissed Clara's cheek firmly. "With pleasure." he said.
Before they went off they untied all of the staff happily and cleared things up with them. The Doctor and Clara went back to the TARDIS and led Debvass' species to their new planet, an empty one that the Doctor had discovered not that long ago, known as Gitop.
And that was that.
As the Doctor and Clara slumped against the railings of the TARDIS after a long time, they both let out a sigh of relief. It had been a rather long day running and adventuring as they did.
"Doctor." Clara then said softly, and gently.
The Doctor looked at her with a small, genuine smile. "Yes Professor Oswald." he announced.
She raised an eyebrow, and giggled inquisitively. "Professor Oswald?" she asked.
"Surely, you get a name like that after you save the day you wonderful being." he chuckled.
The top of her lip rose and she developed a small smile. "You don't need Gallifrey or your people." she said.
The Doctor gave her a confused look. "There's others." she said. "Others that-well maybe they aren't like you but they are your friends, your family. Like me." she took a deep breath, then let it out. "You're like my, you're like my family." she said "Not only that, my best friend too." she spoke again. "But you mean so much more to me than that." she whispered, the last part.
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at her, and a warm blush appeared on his cheeks.
"I took a chance before." she said. "It's not like me to take two bold steps in a day but I'm going to." she spoke again.
The Doctor, again, gave her a confused look.
"We're always running, always falling through space and time, just you and me." she repeated what he had said earlier. "We cling to the skin of this universe and maybe sometimes we should let go, maybe just this time we should take a chance.." she whispered, looking into his eyes.
"Oh Clara." he said softly, he knew exactly what she had meant. He had felt it too, for so long now. The feelings that he had felt for her, he didn't know that he could ever have them again, such feelings of warmth.
She cupped his blushed warm cheek gently and continued to look into his eyes.
"Maybe- maybe we should just let go." he whispered to her gently, looking into her big brown eyes.
"Maybe." she whispered and bit down on her lip gently, a soft smile appearing on her pink lips then that she couldn't quite hide.
"Home is where the heart is." He began, softly and quietly. "The TARDIS is my home and it is yours, you are my home." he said, "you are my heart."
He lent forward and down and closed his eyes placing a soft, and very gentle kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes too and kissed him back gently. His hand moved to the small of her back, and he wrapped his other around her small petite waist. She pulled away gently and placed her head on his chest, feeling his two hearts beat rapidly against her body.
"Clara Oswald." he then said. "Did I ever tell you that you are a wonderful human being?" he asked. "Beautiful too." he added.
"Many times." she said. "But you can continue on."
"Oh I will Professor Oswald." he grinned, embracing her still.
And that was that.
Reviews are welcome!