Dark
This is a dark!doctor AU. The narrator is my OC, I made up everything about her. She is a past companion in this story and ,yes, everyone in this is important to her story. I'm thinking about writing more about her and the Doctor but I wanted to take her on a bit of a test run first! Please review and enjoy!
I'm on my way back to the main screen when the panic starts. Voices rise and fingers tap furiously at keys. Screens flash image after image. I don't understand the fuss at first but soon I see. That box is hard to miss.
I remember the days when that box brought people hope. The days when it brought me hope. When it made me think of home. But century after century began to weigh on the old, tired soul inside and something finally snapped in him. Sad and lonely as he was, I never thought he'd change the way he did. But he did. And I wasn't enough to save him.
Now that box orbits the planet growing closer and closer by the minute. I can't believe he really had the stomach to come here, now in this time period because he knows I'm here and he knows I won't let him get too close.
I already hear the four beat thump getting louder although I'm not sure if its because my ears have been tuned to hear it or if I just know he's coming.
"Violet!" A loud but highish voice shouts over the swelling noise in the dark room. I see Lara pushing through the people moving about at alarmingly fast speeds.
"Violet its him! I mean its really, actually him!"
Lara is of average height yet still taller then me. Long dirty blond hair with hazel eyes and freckles dotting her nose and the tops of her cheeks mark her as my assistant and my close friend.
Lara finally reaches me, eyes wide and short on breath. "Its not a mistake this time. Its him and he's coming quick." She breathes.
I give a small nod and say "Put it on the main screen." Just Loud enough for Chris to hear me over the noise.
Before I can blink, the TARDIS is on the screen and the room silences.
I move to Chris's side with Lara in step behind me. I place my hand on his shoulder.
"I thought you said he'd never have the nerve to come back." Chris says in a low voice sparked with what I know too well as fear.
"Yeah, well, I lied. I knew he'd come. He always comes." I say
"What do we do? Were not calling her are we? " Lara asks putting almost venom in her.
"I don't care if you don't like it, she's the only protection we have. As soon as her feet hit this soil, he won't touch this planet. He wouldn't dare." I say with ice in my voice
"I don't know how you can have so much trust in her." Chris grumbles looking up and down from his keyboard to the screen. "She's his wife for Christ sake."
I look down at him angrily. "So?" I almost spit. "I could call his daughter if you'd prefer."
"I don't see how we can trust a damn word she says. That's all."
"Yeah well I do trust her. If you trust me then you should trust her."
"Yeah cause being married to a monster doesn't make you one right?"
It takes all my strength and years of restraint not to strangle him right then and there. Lara puts a hand on my arm. She knows the drill on calming me when I'm angry. She leads me away to her desk.
"Alright let's get this over with. Not much time before he lands. He's only trying to scare us with waiting." I say. I know he's only toying with us. He does that now. Like a child playing with his food.
Lara hands me the phone. "You think she'll really come?"
"Yes" I take it and dial a number only I know.
"And you really trust her?"
"With my life and yours." I press the phone to my ear and wait.
Pick up pick up pick up
"Violet?" I hear a curiously concerned voice at the other end of the line.
I breathe a deep sigh of relief. "River, I have never been happier to hear your voice."
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"What can't a girl call an old friend?" I know this is no time for jokes and by the look on Lara's face, she agrees.
"Violet. Not funny. What's happened?"
I've forgotten what British accents sound like. I haven't heard one in I don't know how long. Not since I left him.
What do you think River? Why else would I call." I say
"I'll be there in a minute." Her voice has a nasty mix of seriousness, anger and urgency. The line goes dead and I put down the phone.
I count to three in my head and she arrives in a flash of light and a bit of smoke right on cue. "Would it kill you to lower the shields for heavens sake?" She says with mock aggravation.
I breathe a sigh of relief although I know its nowhere near over yet. Lara has stiffened and Chris hasn't even looked up but I know he has clenched his teeth angrily.
"Lara." Says River giving a small nod. "And Christopher. Always a pleasure." She is well aware of his blatant dislike for her but she never misses a chance to taunt and I never expect her to.
"So what do you need me to do?" She asks.
"Nothing." She looks at me with surprise. "He's got to know you're here by now and that's all I need. He won't touch this planet as long as you're on it. So sit down and get comfortable."
I know she's not happy about missing the action but still, she folds her arms and sits quietly. Which is odd because she is almost never one to sit quietly.
"Vi," Chris says with panic in his voice. I look up at him. "He... he wants to talk to you. Outside. No guns. No River."
My face is calm but my insides have all but jumped out of my mouth. I was hoping to just have River come and maybe he'd just go but of course, that isn't going to happen. I haven't seen him or spoken to him since I left him and I wanted to keep it that way. Its easier to deal with pain if you can't see the source. I want desperately to send someone else and drown myself in something entirely separate but I can't. He's not the man I once knew. If I send someone else he'll kill them or worse. If I send River he'll grab her and burn us all. The only answer is for me to put myself together and go. And as always, I must so I will. At the expense of myself.
I give Chris a silent nod and spare a second to compose myself.
Here goes nothing.
"Hello old friend." My voice is ice cold and my expression is pure steel.
"Friend. If only we could call ourselves friends. Dear Violet." He is just as cold if not colder. "New accent?"
"Yeah. What do you think?"
"I don't like it."
"I didn't think you would."
Our banter is old hat but pointless. We both know why we're here.
Looking at him makes me feel sick. He's much thinner than he once was with boney fingers and a slightly sagging face. His jacket hangs off of him strangely and his bow tie is too loose. He's so old now. So tired and worn. So in need of rest.
I want so much for him to return to the Doctor I knew. I want him to straighten his bow tie and take my hand. I want to run away and never stop. But the too-skinny man with hearts of ice before me isn't my Doctor anymore. I'm not even sure he deserves that name anymore.
"Why are you here Doctor?" I say boldly. I stare deep into his cold eyes, so hard to read what's under the surface.
"Because I saw the human race burn its path across the universe and I will not stand by and watch another day." His voice is plagued with deep seated anger.
"Well I hate to break it to you but you won't lay a finger on this planet. Ever."
His long limbs cross the distance between us before I can blink twice. I forgot that he has no regard for personal space. Of course, his temper has never extended to me but times have changed.
"If you think I won't get this planet then you are greatly mistaken." His voice is low and quiet and more terrifying than anything I have ever heard but I keep my face void of expression.
"I am not afraid of you Doctor. Everyone and everything else my bolt at the sight of you but I am not afraid."
He tries to use his big eyes to his advantage, attempting to stare me down but he should know that it will not work.
"Do whatever you like." I whisper furiously. "You won't touch this planet. Not while I'm still breathing."
With that he freezes and I think he stops breathing himself. Something flashes across his eyes for only a moment. Something almost... Apologetic. He backs away slowly with his hands behind him.
I've gotten much older since we last met. I've grown up. But even so, I can tell that be still sees me as a fourteen year old girl who begged him to take her away and as much as he wants what he came for, he'd never hurt me. If my death is the condition, he will turn his back and fly away. As always, the lives of his friends are not to be gambled with.
"What happened to you Doctor?" I ask sadly. I've asked him many times but he never answers. I still always ask.
"You used to love this planet, these people. You used to protect them, now look at you. What you've become."
"I'm simply trying to cleanse the universe of the parasite that is the human race." He sounds cold and distant but his eyes reflect something different entirely.
"The Doctor I knew would never say that."
"People change."
"You're not people."
"... Then what am I?" He sounds like he really is asking.
"I honestly wish I knew." My voice falters for the first time on that sentence.
His big, sad eyes look right through me searching for answers. My own eyes fill with salty tears.
"Oh Doctor. What you've become I could never tell you. Now get in your box and fly away." My voice wobbled. A lot.
He opened his mouth slightly as if to say something.
"No. Don't say anything. Go. Just...just go." Tears begin to streak my cheeks.
"Before I say this I want you to know that you are my best friend and I love you. No one can ever do what you've done for me. But you've become a monster and you've made one out of me. I swear. On my life and on every life on this planet, I swear. If you ever come back here I will kill you and I am not bluffing. I swear on everything I will kill you if you ever come back here." What scares me the most is that I'm dead serious.
His childlike, heartbroken face turns away from me and disappears behind blue wood. I make my way over to the box and place my hand over the sign. Pressing my forehead gently to the wood, I whisper "Goodbye Doctor. Please don't come back." As he disappears.
I know I will see him again. Just not here.