Dreams Like Oceans

Chapter One: The Madman

Disclaimer: We do not own Doctor Who nor the title of this story. Doctor Who belongs to Moffat and the BBC, and the title belongs to Meg & Dia.

Authors' Note: Oh, boy! Another self-insert and crossover fanfic (as if the world were in need of any more of those). We shall endeavor to avoid catching the disease known as Mary Sue and keep this story from becoming crack-y. We sincerely hope that you enjoy.

She's shaking, shaking so violently that he can hardly get to his feet. He crawls across her, trying to reach her center so he can help her, stop her. He's calling out to her but she won't tell him what's wrong. Pain, so much pain-that's all he knows. Finally, it stops. He looks up at her center, her heart. He straightens his bow-tie and asks, "What's wrong?" A brilliant burst of light. Darkness.

The raven haired girl sat in one of the booths of the hole in the wall Chinese food restaurant. She sighed softly and pulled out her phone to remind herself that she was right and her friend was late. Quickly she scrolled to the voice mail and listened to the other young woman's voice.

"Hey Ivy, it's Riona. Just wanted to call and tell you that I'm working at the movie theater tonight, so if you want to grab dinner with me at six I would love it! China House like always? Call me if you have other plans or not. See you then!"

Ivy clicked the voice mail off and glanced back at the grubby clock that hung crooked on the wall. Six was over thirty minutes ago there had to be a reason why she was so late, right? This wasn't like Riona to be this late without calling first. Taking the styrofoam cup filled with tea with her, Ivy pushed herself out of the booth and walked out of the small chinese restaurant and headed toward the Top Hat Cinema.

Living in the same small town her whole life meant that Ivy knew all of the best shortcuts. The sound of her combat boots hitting the pavement sounded like gunshots as she ran across the street and dodged the slow moving traffic. People waved, smiled, or said short little greetings to the girl as she ran past them all. It was perfectly normal for the townsfolk to see Ivy running through the town to one thing or another. Jogging through the twisting alleyways, Ivy didn't think about the route she was taking, she just let her feet travel down the old path ways. Her body instinctively knew every turn and every dodge, so she let her mind drift away from the path.

After her first full stressful year of college and a failed engagement to her high school sweetheart, it had been almost a year since Ivy had been back to her home in the sleepy town in between the mountains. Home... That was a bittersweet word to Ivy now. That one word seemed to bring back memories that she just wanted to forget. Like the smell of a new spring mixed with an old worn jean jacket and sweet red wine, or the sound of bellowing laughter and music bubbling out of a beat up boombox. There was no way she would forget these senses, but more importantly she was haunted by the feeling of his lips and his hands caressing her and...

Ivy shook her head slowly to in a futile attempt to forget the images in her mind. As she reached the last part of the short cut, she stopped in front of the wrought iron fence that separated her from the last little stretch to the movie theater. Ivy slowly walked the length of the fence until she got to the old oak that hung over the twisted black metal. Quickly, with skilled hands, she grabbed the rough bark of the bottom branch and pulled her body up off the ground Slowly Ivy tip toed across the thick limb of the old oak and over the pointed Gothic style fence. Gently Ivy lowered herself to the other side of the fence (careful not to touch the black metal) and into the old graveyard. She looked around at one of her old haunts, where on the summer days her friends and her would run through the old graves skipping, singing and laughing until they couldn't breathe. Ivy looked across the graves to see the old neon lights of the theater flashing she just needed to get across the field before the ghosts of her past caught up to her. Unlike the normal summer months an odd mist had started to creep off of the river and across the lush grounds that evening.

"Well thats not creepy at all," Ivy thought to herself as she started to wade through the thickening mists. With the sound of an owl hooting off in the distance Ivy found herself moving faster across the grounds of the church's graveyard trying desperately not to trip over her two left feet. Never did she notice the blue police box sitting on the side of the cemetery but she did hear the sound of the back door of the theater crash open and she did see a man dragging a girl out of the open doorway.

"Riona!"

...

There was a monster in the dark, empty movie theater. Not the kind that children believe are hidden under their beds. The people kind. Her mother always said, "There's no such thing as monsters, just bad people." There was definitely a bad person down here, she was sure of it. They were waiting for her. The cold wrapped around her bare skin and she shivered.

Butter. Popcorn cups. Oh, God! What was that noise? The girl quickened her pace while trying to take her mind off her fear. Do we need more soda? Butter. We need butter. Butter. Butter. Hurry! She raced to the door at the other end of the theater and jumped into the light, releasing the breath she'd been holding. She looked around the small area, smiling apologetically to the recycling for her ridiculous behavior. Taking a small key out of the pocket of her brightly colored shorts she moved toward the wooden storeroom door and unlocked it.

Pushing it open, she immediately registered movement over by the shelves of alcohol. She couldn't completely contain the scream that tried to erupt from her throat. She stared at the man before her, wide eyed, for a few moments before she realized how she must have appeared. Embarrassed, the girl let out a breathy laugh.

"Sorry," she said. "I wasn't expecting you. Are you from the art store next door? I keep forgetting this is a communal basement."

The man kept staring at her. He seemed so old to her but he couldn't have been more than thirty-and even that was a stretch. He was holding some strange high tech-looking box. His outfit was rather odd; he looked like a bumbling professor, complete with bow-tie. Ah, one of the local hipsters, she thought with a smirk.

"Can I help you?" she asked, crossing to the fridge.

He finally spoke: "Yes. Have you seen any odd glowing things around here recently?"

She furrowed her brow. "Like what?" She opened the freezer door and took out a package of butter.

"Like that." He pointed to the butter. She looked down at the package. It was glowing.

"What the...?" She brought the package closer to her face.

"No! Don't!"

The girl breathed in...

…

"What do you see?"

"Colors. Brilliant colors. And places I've never been, never even heard of."

"What else?"

"Memories that aren't my own. Who is that man?"

"Anything else?"

"Yes...woven strands...connecting the Things That Were to the Things That Are to the Things Yet To Be. But there isn't enough. I'm missing things. So many things."

"What is your name?"

"Sexy."

"Your name, not hers."

"Catriona McAllister. Riona."

A chuckle. "That's very Scottish." A pause. "Open your eyes, Riona."

She opened her eyes, and there was the man. He'd had a few faces but his strand remained the same and was the easiest to see. "Doctor," she breathed.

He smiled. "Hello."

"I have a piece of the TARDIS inside of me." She blinked. "But I don't even know what the TARDIS is...or even who you are. But I do." She shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense."

The Doctor took her face in between his hands. "Don't try to make sense of it or you'll hurt yourself. You're seeing things that no human is supposed to see. Or any other species, for that matter."

"Can't you get it out of me?" she pleaded.

"I'm going to try." He leaned closer to her. She leaned back.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh." He placed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Riona looked around, feeling rather uncomfortable. A few minutes passed.

"It's, um, it's not working," she said gently.

"Obviously." The Doctor pulled away from her, frustrated.

"It's alright." She placed a comforting hand on his arm. "I knew it wasn't going to work...whatever it was you thought you were doing. The piece can't be removed until we're done finding the others. I'm the 'homing device' of sorts." She paused and furrowed her brow. "I can't believe I know this stuff." Standing up, she brushed herself off. "Well, we'd better get started."

"No, no, no." He shook his head and stood up. "I'm not taking on any passengers. Just tell me where they are. I'll collect them, come back here, put them back together and then be off. It'll all be over within the hour, don't you worry."

"I'm not worried, but-"

"Good because there is a lot to worry about." He clapped his hands together. "Now, where are the other pieces?"

"I can't tell you."

The Doctor grabbed her upper arms. "Why not?"

Riona shifted around in his grip. "I can only get the location of each piece one at a time. Right now I can only see where one of them is. We'll have to get it to find the next."

They held each other's gaze for a while, trying to determine what the other was thinking. The Doctor eventually let go of Riona.

"Well, then, where is the first piece?"

Riona closed her eyes. She drew in a deep breath, not smelling the musty and cold basement around her, but the salty tang of the sea. She could almost feel the spray of the water on her face. There were giant ships sailing through her mind.

"Port Royal. 18th century. It's beautiful." Her brow furrowed. "Hold on. Maybe I can see the other pieces." She drew in another deep breath...and promptly fell unconscious. Again.

The Doctor caught her (albeit awkwardly) before she fell to the floor. He grinned "Geronimo."

Author's Note: Tell us what you think!