The Lady of Blyledge
AU from 'The Doctor's Wife', will diverge almost immediately from canon, in that pocket universe the Doctor found not only his TARDIS in human form for the second time but also his wife and a few survivors of the war, but just who is backing the Silence and why does the President of Gallifrey need to do about the Temporal Powers
It'd been in the back of his mind since he got here, was it her?
Footsteps, the Doctor closed his eyes and channelled his third self as the two patchwork people ran.
"Aikido!" The Doctor yelled kicking out at the gunman, to his surprise the gunmen kept hold of his weapon and took hold of he Doctor's foot in an effort to drive him to the floor. But the Doctor was one of the best performers of Venusian aikido, he leant forward with all his weight causing his foot to slip, as he fell forward he jabbed twice at his attacker before dodging a sweeping right-hook. As the Doctor came round for another attack he felt blood pumping in his ears as his fury began to escape, he'd been burying his emotions for too long this was fun. He jabbed again forcing the man to stumble, as the Doctor closed in he stopped, for he now saw just who he was attacking.
"Spandrell?" The Doctor stopped, after-all Spandrell was a very old Time Lord friend.
"Doctor? Rɑsɪlɔnɪl buʃrona! You've done it again, which version is that now?"
"A latter one," was the Doctor's solemn reply.
"Yes, quite right Cardinal," Spandrell nodded ignoring the Doctor's wince at the use of his title.
"Who else is here Castellan?" the Doctor asked drawing in a breath as he looked at his old friend, the Doctor knew Spandrell, he'd never sit back while Time Lords suffered, it was his duty.
"A couple of others Doctor, but first," Spandrell leant forward, the Doctor swiftly caught on.
"Contact," they said in unison, as their minds briefly touched and Spandrell went over the Doctor's thoughts as he did the same, then satisfied they pulled back.
"This way Cardinal…"
The Doctor followed Spandrell in silence, apprehensions' about speaking, the last time the Doctor'd heard of him was that Spandrell had been thrown into an Oubliette cell once Rassilon took power from Romana.
"My Lord Cardinal," Spandrell spoke drawing out the Doctor to see a youngish man, Time Lord, in bland Prydonian robes, he was dishevelled with black hair in all directions and a soot smeared face. Behind him was an elderly man wearing bright Prydonian orange robes and a skullcap with diamonds in laid, both of them were familiar to the Doctor, but not so much as the woman spread out across the table. Despite being unconscious with a loose white medical robe around her, he was able to recognise her, the high cheekbones, full red lips, and her long blond hair cascading down her slender shoulders and delicately curved chest, through the robes the Doctor could make out the boarder of her flat stomach and her long legs extending beyond the confines of the robe.
"Doctor?" the Doctor suddenly looked up to see the younger Time Lord looking straight at him.
"Damon!" the Doctor called out as he pulled Damon in for a hug, he then turned to the elder Time Lord. "Hedin."
The Doctor nodded solemnly as a sign of respect before returning his attention to Damon.
"How is she?" the Doctor asked, his hand moving to delicately move a strand of hair from her face.
"She's in a self-imposed coma, some sort of neural shock, she needs proper medical attention," Damon said as he looked over the Doctor's shoulder. "Do you know her; she wasn't at the academy was she?"
The Doctor looked up and between them, he merely smiled mysteriously.
"What happened to your TARDIS?" the Doctor asked, he took one of the woman's hands in his, he gently kissed it before looking up.
"We crash landed when something tried to download our TARDIS' fragment of the Space-Time Matrix, but we saw what happens here," Hedin said his tone grave as he looked at his old friend and student. "This planetoid; House, it eats TARDIS."
"What?"
"It has to remove the TARDIS matrix in order to prevent the block-transfer collapse punching a hole in local space time and the general Time pollution," Damon said, after all he was the lead technician and would know what would happen, it was part of his job to oversee TARDIS construction and decommissioning.
"It eats TARDISes, but I-" the Doctor suddenly swept to his feet and took the woman in his hands before running from them back the way he'd come, Damon, Hedin and Spandrell watched him go before following, Spandrell was in the lead position with a staser raised and Damon covering their six with his own staser.
As the Doctor dashed through the wreckage he struggled to keep the woman stable, she was taller than him! Struggling to a stop the Doctor was able to answer his ringing mobile, the Pipe organ from the Panopticon on Gallifrey rung out as it vibrated.
"Hey! No sonic screwdriver, also the door seems to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent reason, but I think you've tricked us."
Amy accused him, the Doctor barely flinched, he was still trying to hold the woman close to his chest with one arm.
"Buisness of the Time Lord High Council, needed you out of the way," the Doctor grunted back.
"What we're not smart enough for your new friends?"
The Doctor kept running, but something had hit him.
"The boxes will make you angry… how could she know, she clearly wasn't one of the Sisterhood," the Doctor drew in a breath. "Stay put, I'm sending help."
Coming to an abrupt stop Spandrell was just able to stop hitting the Doctor.
"Ah, Castellan, Damon head to my TARDIS and try to reactivate the systems, Hedin, you're with me," the Doctor begun to turn.
"Doctor, who put you in charge?" Hedin asked stepping forward to challenge him; the Doctor gently placed the woman on the ground and caressed her cheek before drawing up to stare Hedin in the eye.
"I am both the 407th and 409th Lord High President of Gallifrey and under emergency article 45 of the Constitution, in a state of emergency a previous President can be recalled to office," the Doctor then broke off talks with Hedin and turned to Spandrell. "Spandrell, guard this woman and Damon with your life, consider this a direct Presidential order!"
"Acting-President Sir!" Spandrell saluted him before moving forward and taking the lady of his shoulder.
The Doctor began to walk back into the complex of wreckage before turning back to Damon.
"Damon, I'll have your staser…" Damon reluctantly handed the Doctor his weapon before heading off after the Castellan.
The Doctor readied his staser before heading off, Hedin briefly looked to the retreating form of Spandrell and Damon before following the Doctor.
He strode over and demanded, "How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make me angry, how did you know?"
The woman opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Ah, it's my thief. And your friends. You found them, that's good". The Doctor glared at her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"You don't recognise me because they put me in here!" the madwoman responded.
"No, why should I they put you in the cell for my safety." The Doctor responded evenly the staser cradled in his right hand.
"Not the cage, stupid. In here", she put a hand on either side of her face, "they put me, in here. I'm the...oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go-", and then she made the sound of a dematerialising TARDIS. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"The TARDIS?" he asked incredulously.
"Time and Relative Dimensions In Space - yes, that's it. Names are funny...it's me. I'm the TARDIS" she smiled.
Hedin scoffed.
"Not possible the TARDIS matrices are too complex for a human mind," the elderly Time Lord responded derisively.
"No of course that's it, that's where they put the Matrix to allow it to fade away peacefully," the Doctor ran his hands before looking to the woman. "I meet the TARDIS in a human form before, it took the shape of Alistair, my oldest non-Time Lord friend."
"The Brigadier?" Hedin smiled. "I liked him,"
The Doctor smiled and nodded as well before he turned back to the cell.
"Oh, have we now reached the point in the conversation where you let me out?" the mad woman, the TARDIS stepped back, the Doctor numbly raised the staser and fired a single bolt, the weapon was set to freeze time around the target before sealing the universe over it, a shadow briefly formed over the door before it was gone. The Madwoman stepped forth and looked at him.
"My Doctor-" the TARDIS started.
"I'm not your property," the Doctor seemed heavily perturbed by this meeting.
"Are all people like this?" the TARDIS tuned to aske Hedin, who in turn looked to the Doctor with questioning eyes.
"Like what?" Hedin stammered back.
"So much bigger on the inside?" the TARDIS asked looking down at herself. "What's that word, I'm…. It'so complicated and sad."
Hedin looked highly confused while the Doctor's thoughts were completely elsewhere, his hearts ached to get back to the bland woman's side, he licked his lips.
"Hedin we need to get to my TARDIS," Hedin looked to the Doctor before nodding and following him out, the TARDIS cocked her head to one side before following.
After passing through the two patchwork people dying the two Time Lords and the female human arrived at the TARDIS' landing site, Spandrell stood facing outwards from the doors as Damon worked.
"Ah, Doctor, I've cracked two the codes to the cipher-indet lock, I should have the third cracked in no time." Damon looked highly pleased with himself.
"Doesn't matter, I've got the key," the Doctor tossed the key to Spandrell who turned and prepared to open the door when the engines started to run, they stuttered badly and begun to fade away with the blue box.
"No!" the Doctor dasked to the door and tried to put the key into the lock. "I am Lord High President of Gallifrey and I demand you to stop!"
Despite the Doctor's roar the TARDIS faded away.
"ɐṱimow ɐṱimo"
The other Time Lords flinched at the Doctor's profanity.
When the Doctor turned to look at them he addressed Damon.
"Damon, this is a TARDIS graveyard, could you build a working TARDIS?"
Damon seemed to think before answering.
"So long as I can find the requisite parts I should be able to complete a working time transfer console" Damon nodded as he begun to take in the surroundings.
The Doctor turned to the TARDIS woman.
"Old Girl see if you can help him," the Doctor then looked to Hedin and Spandrell. "You two secure the area."
The Doctor tossed the staser to Hedin as he walked over to the woman.
The Doctor was cradling the woman's head in his lap stroking her hair when Spandrell sat down opposite him.
"I've noticed you have difficulty dealing with the human form of your TARDIS?" Spandrell looked questioningly.
"I've met the TARDIS before and…" the Doctor started. "Well, it was different, it took the form of the Brigadier and that's how I've always seen my TARDIS. Someone I can always rely on, the friend who I stand shoulder to shoulder with when the enemy is at the gates. But I see that woman and…"
Spandrell nodded knowingly.
"Who is she?" Spandrell nodded at the woman's prone form, was she smiling slightly, she wasn't before.
"She is a cousin of the House of Blyledge," the Doctor said simply.
"Anything else?" Spandrell wanted more than that.
"Her secrets are her own, just as she wouldn't reveal my secrets," the Doctor brushed another lock of hair from her face.
Spandrell looked away feeling like he was intruding in a deeply personal moment.
"Doctor!" Damon called out from the homemade console. "We're ready."
"Ah, Amy, Rory," the Doctor stumbled forward from the console cradeling the woman in his arms as he gently laid her down on the leather seats.
"Are those Time Lords?" Amy asked curiousity shining in her eyes.
"Yes, well, may I introduce Castellan Spandrell, Councillor Hedin, Technician Damon and this," the Doctor paused. "Is the Lady of Blylegde, my wife…"
"Your what?" both Rory and Amy cried out in shock.
"And that's my TARDIS," the Doctor added gesturing at the madwoman who bit him.
"You have a wife!" Amy cried out in disbelief.
"The environment has been breached., Nephew kill them all," House's voice echoed throughout the coral themed console room.
"Where's Nephew?" Rory asked looking around.
"He was standing where you materialised," Amy said looking at the two elder Time Lords and their large bulky crystal guns as they lowered them.
"He must have been redistributed," the TARDIS woman mussed, watching the Doctor fuss over his wife; checking her pulse, her breathing and her pupils.
"And that means…" Amy asked looking at the Doctor while suppressing a tiny bit of jealousy at the Doctor's tender interaction.
"We're breathing him," Damon added as he moved to the console. "Doctor, the override."
"Tell me, why should I kill you now," House said trying to exude menace, but the Doctor calmly walked to the console.
"You say that like you have a choice," the Doctor said as the gravity increased, Rory, Amy and the TARDIS lady fell to the floor while the Time Lords gritted their teeth and stayed standing while the Doctor entered a set of commands followed by a ten digit code. Suddenly the increased gravity faded and Amy and Rory got up, Hedin moved to the TARDIS woman's side, she was muttering under her breath.
House cried out in pain.
"What are you doing…"
"I've instigated a full override and I'm erasing you consciousness from the exitonic data network," the Doctor added as he made adjustments.
"Without your box of tricks…" the TARDIS woman muttered.
"I have no need of the Hand of Omega to deal with you," the Doctor addressed the invading creature.
"Who are you to destroy me?" House spat venom at the Time Lord. "I exist beyond the confines of this universe, who are you to destroy me? You are merely another Time Lord?"
"Who am I," the Doctor sneered. "You want to know who I am cretin. I am far more than just another Time Lord... I am the Lord High President of Gallifrey, the traveller from beyond Time, I am the Sandman, the Oncoming Storm, I am the Kar Faraq Gatri; Destroyer of Worlds. I am the Ordinal-General of the House of Lungbarrow, I am the Cardinal of the Prydonian Chapterhouses, I am Time's Champion. I am the Doctor, and I am your worst nightmare…"
The lights dimmed and the cloister bell drowned out Houses' screams.
Leaving the Doctor illuminated by the console.
"Damon get us to the primary console room and download the TARDIS matrix." The Doctor picked up his wife and headed to the door. "Spandrell, you have basic medical training yes?"
"Yes, back when I started in the Chancellery Guard," Spandrell answered.
"Then you're my assistant," the Doctor headed for the door.
"I'm a nurse," Rory added trying to be helpful.
"With no experience of Gallifreyan physiology or the effects mistreatment may have, so no, your help is not necessary." The Doctor smiled briefly. "But thank you for the offer."
His eyes showed his sincerity as he left followed by the Castellan.
"Doctor!" Hedin called out as he dashed after him. "She kept saying one thing; The Only water in the Forest is a River."
The Doctor looked confused before looking at him.
"Sorry Hedin, doesn't ring any bells," the Doctor smiled before leaving.
Hedin stood and watched them leave, he hadn't told the Doctor what else she'd said; I don't know who he is.