**I don't usually write these kinds of one-shots, but hey, there's a first time for everything, right? This is for those who wonder what the TARDIS might be thinking about the current companion. This takes place after "Listen", but there aren't any spoilers. The title is from the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare (V.i.372). Enjoy!**
Long ago, the endless halls of the TARDIS had echoed of so many voices. Of laughter and mirth. Of blossoming love and soul-wrenching tears. Then, it became silent. And ever since that unidentifiable moment the deafening silence stretched through Her halls far more often. The TARDIS, being an entity outside the realm of space and time, had no concept of how long such periods of stillness lasted, but soon even she was beginning to miss Her Thief's endless tinkering. Of the companions who "accidently" wandered across some hidden room deep in the bowels of Her hull. Where were the endless questions? What happened to the feeling of companionship that would occasionally stretch even to Her?
Below Her, Her Thief was in the middle of re-reading an old Gallifreyan tome. It'd been so long since he'd been this gray-haired. It was like he had forgotten how to be old. Occasionally She would catch him jumping and leaping around the console, but then he'd stop moments later as exhaustion caught up with him. Sometimes he would finger one of Her central panels, like he had half a mind to crack Her open and tinker to his heart's content. But he would always walk away with a sigh, perhaps with a longing glance towards the TARDIS doors or the space where his old console chair used to be.
But most times he would read, and read, and read. Equations would appear on the nearby blackboards in his handwriting, but the Doctor would stare at them in confusion, like he'd forgotten what they were for. And the silence. Oh, the never-ending silence! It confused the TARDIS. She knew that this regeneration liked his solitude, but this was too much. At times it was like he was going mad, muttering to himself and tromping through Her halls without a destination in mind. He slept too much, as well, more than seven hours every night, with the occasional nap. In his past forms the Doctor had avoided sleep like the plague, as a way to stave off the nightmares of the Time War. But now it seemed like he craved it, using the unconscious state as an escape from his never-ending loneliness.
The TARDIS had tried reaching out to him telepathically on multiple occasions, but he would brush Her aside, if he acknowledged Her presence at all. So now not only was he physically alone, but mentally as well. At times like these She could feel his solitude through the bond, too, and it made Her crave some kind of interaction with Her passengers.
But that was easier said than done. Clara Oswin Oswald, the "impossible girl", was not as mentally aware of the ship as the previous companions had been. Martha Jones (the girl who walked the earth) and Donna Noble (the most important woman in all of creation) had at least been aware that the TARDIS was sentient, and Amelia Pond and Rory Williams (the girl who waited and the pretty one), well…at least they'd had the grace to not disrespect Her. But Rose Tyler, the "Bad Wolf"…she was the one the TARDIS missed most of all. There'd been a special bond with Her and Her Cub, a bond that could not be easily broken by the meager walls of time and space. After all, Rose was responsible for absorbing the heart of the TARDIS, the time vortex itself, in order to save the Doctor. Oh, what a raucous Time Lord the Doctor had been then! And his companions, too!
The TARDIS suddenly became aware that the Doctor had left the console room, and Clara had entered. She was wearing her black skirt and sweater, with black boots that clicked on the metal floor. The human paused in front of the console and glanced behind her, perhaps worried that the Doctor might walk in on her doing something wrong. The sentient ship mentally sighed (Since when have companions been worried about the times when Her Thief is present?), but remained silent and waited for Clara to make the first move.
The human female quickly walked to the side of the console that contained the telepathic circuit, the same gel-like substance she'd used a few days before to track the Doctor's childhood nightmare. Clara's gaze flickered between the gel, the TARDIS rotor, and the hallway behind her, before she stuck her hands into the circuit and closed her eyes.
She gasped with how quickly the TARDIS reacted to her, and the ship chuckled. However, She did not like how many lies plagued the Doctor's newest companion, both those Clara has said and those she will say in time. So the TARDIS only showed the woman brief images, and not a whisper more.
Clara Oswim Oswald bit her lip and concentrated her mind. Within moments she had clear sentences running through her mind and into the TARDIS. This is how you do it, yeah? Am I talking to the TARDIS?
The ship sent the mental equivalent of a nod.
But the human didn't fully understand what the TARDIS meant, and she screwed her eyes in concentration. TARDIS! Clara was practically shouting her words, thinking the ship wasn't hearing her. I need to talk to you! A pause. Please.
This time, the sentient ship sent an image of calm skies and rolling green hills. Clara sighed and shook her head slightly. Sorry, she mentally muttered, just not used to this I guess.
The TARDIS laughed again, and her lights flickered in good humor.
It's just… Clara worried her bottom lip, before finally thinking to Her, TARDIS, I was walking through the halls—well, they're your halls, I suppose—and I saw a line of bedrooms. Were those…?
The ship's reply was to send the human brief flashes of the Doctor's past companions. From Susan, to Sara Jane Smith, to Adric, and to Ace. In those seconds Clara saw them all, most of them female, and very few of them older than thirty. She smiled to see women around her age, one blond, another dark-skinned, then two gingers. The only men she saw were a good-looking captain of sorts, an African American with short black hair, and a brown-haired one with a kindly face. The one time Clara flinched was when the slideshow stopped on a mirror-image of herself. Her double was wearing a flirty red dress, grinning like she had something to hide.
What was the point of that? Clara asked the ship. There was definitely a bite to her mental voice she wasn't able to hide.
The TARDIS seemed to huff indignantly, and Clara winced as she felt a mental door slamming in her face.
Wait! I'm sorry! She said, a faint whine coloring her already-disjointed thoughts. I didn't mean to be rude. Really, I didn't. But what do those people have that I don't?
The ship opened up a little bit, prompting the companion to continue.
Clara flicked a piece of hair out of her eyes and stared hard at the telepathic circuit, as if the answers would appear there like a Magic 8 ball. I love traveling with the Doctor, and sometimes, it seems like he likes being with me, too. But then I do or say something, then I accidently poke at something the wrong way, and he shuts down on me. He gets this far-away look in his eyes, and I know he's thinking about someone else. Clara's face hardened, and she couldn't stop the bitter end to her thought from getting to the TARDIS. Thanks to you, now I know who to blame.
The TARDIS lights flickered and Clara trembled slightly at the next mental image: a golden beast without a face, crouching and ready to pounce. Its growl reverberated through the human's bones like an intense hum.
Clara tried to hide her thoughts, but the TARDIS had seen the envious heart that lay behind the woman's pretty face, and now She could hear the human's vengeful desires. I'm prettier than that dark-skinned, doe-eyed lady, one of Clara's thoughts said. Another one swirled past, saying, How come the Doctor let that ginger girl's boyfriend come along and not Danny?
The TARDIS seemed to bare her teeth at the human, who was now at the mercy of Her wrath. How dare this woman think she was better than others, or consider her life with the Doctor unfair? How could any life with the Doctor be fair? It was generally assumed by most of the companions that "fair" was out of the equation, and that a good day was one with running and living. Her final straw was when Clara accidentally let slip that she considered Rose to be a useless, brainless scrubber who only lived to be the blond damsel in distress and was probably worthless to the Doctor during her time on board the TARDIS.
Immediately Clara's eyelids was filled with a golden light, a light she somehow knew was a wolf. Its coat blinded her mind, and through its eyes Clara could see the beginning and end of infinity. It filled her with equal amounts of wonder and terror.
When the golden wolf howled and the words Bad Wolf flashed across her subconscious, Clara emitted a half-scream and ran from the room.
The TARDIS simply sighed and drifted away from temporal awareness, alone once more.
**What do you guys think? Was I too harsh on Clara? (Is it obvious that she is not exactly my favorite companion?) Comment if you have time! Keep writing!**