Series Title:The Many Crimes of Melody Pond
Chapter Title:Theft
Fandom:Doctor Who
Rating:G/PG
Characters/Pairing:River, a dog
Summary: Melody Pond committed her first crime when she was eight years old.
Notes:Spoilers through Let's Kill Hitler. Concrit, please. The first in a series of snapshots of Melody's life, taken through the window of her crimes. I've finally thought of something to write about Mels, so hopefully this will help me work out my feelings about that episode. The prompt for this was 'theft', off my crimes prompt table—I'll be using prompts from that table for this fic, hopefully when it's finished I can knock that table off my (unofficial) Mission Insane list. Also, this fic sort of got away from me a bit. There's less, you know, crime than I planned, and more Melody being cute with a dog. This fic also assumes that the little girl in Day of the Moon is Melody, and is set shortly after she escapes.
The first time Melody committed a crime, she was eight years old. (Sanctioned execution wasn't a crime, neither was sanctioned mind wiping). She stole a peach from a fruit seller. He didn't see her—she'd been trained in stealth, and anyhow she was quite small. She hid in an alley while she ate it, smiling as the sticky juice ran down her chin. The ache in her stomach lessened.
As she ate, she surveyed her surroundings. A stray dog walked over to her, mangy, his fur matted. The dog might once have been brown, but time and dust had turned its coat grey. It was thin, very thin, much thinner than Melody—and Melody was quite thin. The dog nosed at her peach.
She looked at him.
"You can't have it, you know," she told the dog. "If you take it, I'll kill you."
The dog pressed its nose to the back of her hand.
"I could, if I wanted to. I'm very good at that sort of thing." She smiled. "I was made for that sort of thing. I'm the greatest weapon in the whole universe, I think. I must be. I was made to kill the greatest criminal in the whole universe, so I must be the greatest weapon. He's very powerful you know. Very important."
The dog sniffed, and settled down with its head on Melody's leg, looking dolefully up at her.
"He is, too! I think I'd quite like to meet him. And not just because I'm supposed to kill him, either. I mean I'd quite like to meet him, properly. Because he must be amazing, if they need someone as good as me to kill him."
The dog snuffled, and rammed its head into Melody's chest, insistent on increasing contact.
"Stop it, or I'll disable you. I might kill you, I might just knock you out and break your legs, but it'll be very uncomfortable for you anyway." Melody finished the peach, and tossed the pit to the ground.
"You can have that, if you want. It tastes awful."
The dog licked at the peach pit, then went to do the same to Melody's hands and face. She giggled, then frowned and moved away.
"You really don't get it, do you? I could kill you."
The dog whined, and rolled over, exposing its belly. Melody could see where its ribs were, and she poked at it.
"I've been trying to remember things," she said. She poked at the dog again, and ran her hand over its ribs. "Lots of things. Like why I left, and what my name is, and where I'm meant to be going. I can remember, sometimes, if I try quite hard. Some bad things happened, I think. It makes my head hurt…I wish I knew my name. Sometimes I think I know, and sometimes I don't remember that I've forgotten anything." Her hand stilled, and she looked hard at the dog. It panted, its tongue lolling out of its mouth, and pushed its stomach against her hand. "If I tell you my name next time I remember, will you hold onto it for me? And not go away, and never give it to anyone else? Will you promise? I can kill you if you don't."
The dog rolled back over, and sniffed Melody's hand.
Melody scratched its nose absentmindedly. "I'm still hungry. I haven't eaten in ages. I don't have to worry about eating usually, there's the suit and they always give me food-" Melody stopped. "Oh. I'd forgotten the suit." She smiled. "That's nice. I like when I remember things. Except sometimes. Sometimes I don't like it, like if the things aren't very nice." Melody patted the dog's head. "Anyway, I'm still hungry. I'm going to go get some more food. I'll get you some too, but only if you keep my name for me. And remember, you can't tell anyone, or else I'll snap your neck." The dog thumped its tail on the ground, and licked Melody's face. "Alright. I'm going. You wait here, though, you'll get me caught." She leaned forward and looked the dog very seriously in the face. "I work better alone," she said.
She didn't go back to the fruit stand. She went down a different street, to a different stand. She stole some meat, hot and juicy and greasier than was really healthy, and some flat bread, which she didn't think she'd ever tried before. It looked edible, though.
When she got back to the alley, the dog was still there. It beat its tail hard against the ground, then got to its feet. It trotted over to her.
"Hello Dog," she said. "I've brought some meat. I'm going to eat first, but you can have some when I'm finished.
She sat down, and set about eating the rest of her meal. When she had finished with the greasy meat, she gave what was left to the dog. It ate it happily, quickly, gnawing on the bones it received. Melody ate the bread which she had stolen, then smiled at the dog, scratching behind its ear. It yawned.
"You can go to sleep if you want," Melody said. "It's okay. I'll watch out for you."
The dog settled down next to Melody, and she lay beside it, resting her head against its side.
"I'm the greatest weapon in the world, you know."