Authors Note: So here we are. I would like to introduce to you, the second of my major fan fiction projects. This time, on another we beloved franchise, Doctor Who. This is something I've always wanted to do, but never really had the will power to do so. This is something completely different; you really have to be intelligent to write Doctor Who fan fiction. Or to write it at all.
I really do hope you enjoy this. It will be in the format of episodes, as if it was a series, you were watching on the television. Or the internet… as who really watches stuff on TV, right? :P Still, I'm not going to give away anything, just like canon Doctor Who doesn't. You'll just have to read and find out. But trust me; this has been in the planning stages for a long, long time. There's going to be a story to beat all stories behind this. You may not like the ideas I come up with, but you have bloody well better like how I'm going to lead up to the climaxes and the big secrets. I promise, it'll be worth the wait.
Now, to attract readers I suppose I should give you something to look forward to. Expect the return of beloved characters. Expect a new Doctor, who will have you quaking in your boots, and wanting to dive through your computer screen to hug him at the same time. Expect brand new villains, and a few of our infamous favourites. Overall expect a good story, and not just a load of fluff.
Now, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but I do have to explain the placement of this story. This happens pretty much straight after 'The Angels Take Manhattan'. I'm not a patient guy, I'm not going to wait for Oswin to come and end before I write. So to me, Oswin's only appearance is in the Asylum of the Daleks. She will never be seen again. Matt Smith's Doctor, is coming to the end of his life, even though he doesn't know it. But first, he has a date with a very special person, something he's promised for a long time. This chapter is going to be partly made up of a Doctor Who short 'Last Night'. Watch it, along with the 4 others that came with it. It's worth it. All will make sense soon enough.
But for now, I leave you to dive into my world, my universe. One I have built up from a well beloved story, and am now bringing it to you. I hope you enjoy.
Doctor Who: Of Savagery and Insanity
Episode 0: Last Date With That Face
Where: The TARDIS
When: Unknown
Who: The Doctor and River Song
"So, where are we going this time? These dates of ours are always… interesting." River inquired as the Doctor tried to keep her away from the monitor, moving his body in front of hers as she tried to peer around. "You've been promising Darillium for a long time, when are we going there sweetie?"
The Doctor continued to run around the TARDIS in silence.
"What's wrong?" River asked. "You know I always know when there's something wrong…"
"Where are we now River?" The Doctor urged.
"I don't know, you won't tell me…"
"No… What do you know; do I know more than you do?"
"Oh…" She answered. "Well I've been pardoned from Stormcage, and… I know about Manhattan, so really, at this point I think I know more than you do. Some rich guy has even hired me… Something to do with taking him into a library."
The Doctor's greatest fears had been realised. This was it. He did have a long time really, but how much longer could he drag this out for. He hated long goodbyes, he hated goodbyes all together.
Doing what he did best, he hid all the pain behind his signature smile.
"Come on, those towers aren't going to be there forever." He said, as he ironically sent the TARDIS into the future. His grin didn't fool her, but she knew there was no point persisting on the subject. She'd just move away from it, as the Doctor always did.
"I'll go get dressed then." She said with a kiss, and her usual provocative walk.
The Doctor remained at the TARDIS console, and stared into centre crystal.
"This could very well be it…" He said to himself, as a minute tear dropped onto his cheek.
The Doctor wiped the tear away, and checked his wild uncontrolled brown hair in the model plaque, as he always did. With a quick leap, he was away from the console, and stood against one of the railings, where his dinner suit hung over.
He quickly stripped his normal brown tweed jacket, and the rest of his normal get up, and quickly put on the black dinner suit, looking like it belonged in the 1800's, which was most probably where he had stolen it from.
With another quick motion, he was back at the console, fully dressed, checking his bow tie and hair once again. With a flick of his wrist, his black top completed the look, and River walked up the stairs towards him.
"I haven't seen you wear that in a while." River commented.
"And I thought you'd never wear that?" The Doctor added, as he looked at her in that tight fitting, dark olive green, and sparkling dress he had picked out for her, a long time ago. For all the reasons that weren't the innocent ones.
"I thought I'd spoil you." She said with smile with emphasis on the 'spoil', as the Doctor cracked a smile of his own.
The Doctor ran around the TARDIS as he brought it down in what he thought was Darillium.
He slowly waked over to her, and grabbed her hand, and just as slow led her to the door, which as a gentleman, opened it, and let her experience what truly was the wonders of the Singing Towers of Darillium.
But, as ever, they weren't quite there.
"Is this it?" River asked. "I thought there'd be more?" She added as she looked around the normal Victorian London.
"Well that just ruined everything…" He mumbled to himself. Before it hit him.
Years ago, he had run into himself, the night of his last date, and the night of his first, first with River anyway.
"Come on." He said aloud. "I think we need to go see someone first…"
River held his hand tight as he led her around the streets of Victorian London.
Before he intentionally let go.
"Go back; I just want to check something. Then, we're going straight to Darillium."
"And about time too." She said with a laugh. "Wait Doctor, do you remember the way back?"
With a laugh, he gave her the directions to get back, intentionally sending her to the wrong TARDIS, making sure things turned out exactly as they should.
There he just sat his back against the wall of the nearest house. Tears falling down his face, he really couldn't do this. He had already had to say goodbye, so many times. Since Manhattan, he had travelled a bit, just trying to help as many people as he could, that stopped the pain for a short time. But, the loneliness that hit him every time he opened the TARDIS doors was enough to break anyone. He had already stopped four alien invasions, resorted to taking down a Sontaran battle fleet, and made sure diplomatic talks went smoothly, which they didn't, but he didn't complain.
Now he needed someone. So he went to River's door step and dragged her out on a date.
She would never complain, so there wasn't a problem now.
The Doctor clambered to his feet, and slowly walked towards the other TARDIS, where his younger self was 'parked'.
Pushing open the door, he said "No! River, wrong TARDIS. I'm parked 'round the back…" Of course his younger self immediately went to the point at anything strange, and both Doctor's ended up with their grins bigger than their faces. Even if one was fake.
"Younger version." The older Doctor declared.
"Two of you…" River commented bewildered. "The mind races does it not."
"Come on…" The older Doctor said, as he moved closer to her, trying to snap her out of her fantasies "We'll be late."
"He's taking me to the Singing Towers of Darillium." River told the Doctor's younger self, as she turned around to walk way. "He's been promising for ages."
Both Doctor's grins disappeared, as River disappeared behind the doors.
Silence momentarily hit the two Timelords.
"The first time we met her, at the Library, where she…" The younger Doctor began to ask.
"Died… Yes." The older Doctor finished, as he bit his lip in the pain.
"She said the last time she saw us was at Darillium… Is that now?" The younger Doctor asked.
With a small, fake smile. The older Doctor answered, "Spoilers."
The smile disappeared. "Good luck tonight." The older Doctor finished, remembering the joys of having multiple River's wandering around his TARDIS, believing he was cheating on them.
"You too…" The younger Doctor said, no smiles were caught at this moment. No fake smile could contain the pain.
"Yeah…" The Doctor said, containing the tears, as he spun around to leave.
He heard the footsteps of the younger River coming his way. You could almost say it was like seeing your younger brother and his girlfriend. You could only be jealous of how simple things were, and how much they were about to have. That was how our Doctor felt now.
0oOo0
Where: The Singing Towers of Darillium.
When: Unknown.
Who: The Doctor and River.
The first thing that hit them both as they walked out of the TARDIS door was the sound. The singing of the towers, as the wind hit them emitting just the right frequency. That perfect sound, to start a perfect ending. The sound it was like the singing of angels, a perfect melody. The towers, those manmade structures, stretched high into the sky. Each a different shape from the one next to it. They reached far into the distance, a gift to not only the ears but the eyes as well. As they glowed on the planet's surface in the moonlight.
It was far too dark to give an exact description of where they were. They were both two focused on the beautiful sound that echoed around the planet, and the beautiful people that stood before them.
Obviously, they stood there in only each other's company. They stood there close, embracing the love they both felt for each other.
Some could say their love was set in time before either knew each other. But, that was lie, they really did adore each other, no questions asked. This moment proved that, and the only way to even imagine it, would be to know what it felt.
But the Doctor's sadness still remained.
"Doctor, tell me what's wrong?" She asked him.
He smiled, and placed a kiss on her lips.
As he pulled away, sometime later, he answered.
"Spoilers…"
Once again they both kept silent, admiring each other and the sound around them.
"River… I have something for you." The Doctor said, as he reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small device, a small sonic screwdriver.
What was remaining of the one he had used in his tenth incarnation, but he had spent the time to make it perfect. So that she would remain safe, until the library.
"Your screwdriver?" She asked. "No… I've never seen this one…"
The Doctor smiled. "I want you to keep this on you, at all times. Use the red settings, and the dampers, it'll save you in many sticky situations."
She kissed him on the cheek and picked it up, admiring it.
It wasn't very stylish, but she really didn't care. He was giving her something, which he rarely gave anyone else. Not only that he gave her his screwdriver, not a new one, no it was his.
"Thank you."
The Doctor smiled again, holding back the tears.
"One last thing…" He began. "Before we sit here for the rest of the night in silence, I… I just want to tell you one thing."
Into her ears, in merely a whisper, he told her the age old question. The question that was etched into space and time. Something that would never be answered, and only ever be told once.
She wanted to gasp; in all of space and time, only she knew his name.
And just as the Doctor had promised, they did sit there until the sun rose on Darillium, where the towers finally stopped singing as the wind came to a halt.
As they both slowly made their way to the TARDIS, sadness gained a hold of the Doctor once again.
"I'll see you soon then." She said with yet another smile. "Take care of yourself sweetie."
"How do you know you'll see me soon?" He asked worriedly.
"Not me, but an earlier me… But, spoilers, the greatest spoilers of all Doctor. I'm sorry, but that bow tie is going soon… and when it does, you know the real storm is coming."
"What do you mean River?"
"I'm sorry, but you made me promise not to say…"
The Doctor just nodded, understanding completely.
Yet another future version of himself had been with River. That meant, he still had some time with her.
That was all that mattered right now.
As for her, he knew the end was coming soon.
"River…" He began.
"Yes?"
"How long is it until you go off to this Library?"
"Well, what do you want? The linear answer?" She mocked.
The Doctor scoffed, that was his usual response.
"Do me one thing then, don't go to library straight away… There's nothing going on there, just a few idiots wanting to look at old books…" He begged, obviously lying.
"Sure…" She said concerned.
The pair finally made it back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor clicked his fingers, throwing open the doors without a single touch.
"Since when could you do that?" She asked, impressed.
"I don't know…" He said lying again, immediately reminded of her 'rule one'. The reason he had to lie was because she taught him he could do that, which she had apparently now learnt from seeing him do it. That was the joys of the 'timey wimey stuff'.
On entering the TARDIS, the Doctor was finding it even more difficult to contain the tears.
"What have you got planned for us next time then Doctor?" River asked.
That was the finishing blow. On making it to the console, the Doctor made sure he stayed on the other side of the console to her, stopping her from seeing him like this.
"Oh… I don't know…" He answered, with a sob in his voice.
"That's not like you…" The continued with the mocking, not noticing the damage.
"I'll take you to see something better than what we've had tonight." He said. "Just... As soon as you get back from the… from the Library." Whilst talking, and containing the tears, the Doctor piloted the TARDIS, back to River's temporary accommodation, which she had 'obtained' since she had been pardoned.
"It's a date." She said, as the Doctor clicked his finger once again, throwing open the doors.
"See you soon sweetie." She said, as she walked through the TARDIS doors, for the last time, leaving the Doctor alone once again, with only his thoughts.
As he continued to dart around the TARDIS, hitting controls, a chill swept down the Doctor's back, and to top it off, the TARDIS doors flew open, mid-flight, with no one behind them.
The Doctor quickly looked at them, noticing no one and nothing but space behind them. He slowly made his way over to them, the frightening chill getting stronger as he did so.
When making it to the door, a humanoid shadow shape shot its way across the TARDIS, to the console.
"What are you…?" The Doctor asked, spinning around, more intrigued than scared.
The shadow seemed to just lift its hand, and with an ear shattering laugh, shot a gust of wind at the Doctor from its finger tips, throwing him from his TARDIS.
End of Episode 0.
Authors Note: Okay, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I have attracted you attention for this next journey for the Doctor. I know there's a real lack of plot clues in this, but I wanted the main focus to be the last date. Now a few more things I forgot in the first authors note. The plot arc 'Doctor Who?' will not be concluded in this story, I have no idea where Moffat is going so I'm just going to ignore it. For this perhaps you could say that all that was meant by it was by telling River his name, he was condemning her to death. By telling anyone his name, and answering the question, Doctor Who?
But that's it from me today. Thank you for reading, and please, please review. I always get back to you all, and I love reading your comments. Oh, and constructive criticism is appreciated and loved, but trolling is something I don't stand for. Finally, I don't usually write authors notes this long, and from now I on I promise they won't be more than a few lines long.
Thanks again.
