Also a spin-off of 'One Last Chance To Be Good' but the more fluffy edition- enjoy! I own nothing except for Florence.
Or complain if that's your style, haha!
Feel free to point out errors.
...
The creatures' spindly legs scuttle across the planet's rocky surface. They crawl through derelict buildings and abandoned alleys almost cautiously, waiting.
Florence can't see them. She can feel them coming though- in the increasing sense of despair which tunes itself to her fears as they hone in on their prey.
Fear of heights is first, the most close to the surface. The monsters kick up dust in her mind, flooding her with memories of being in high up places. Nausea strikes and she finds herself as immobilised as the Mistress is. The Time Lady is-
The first layer of dirt is scraped away.
Thoughts scarper like chickens under the gaze of a fox. Speech. Her mouth closes. That speech she made. The stares of those people as she-
Not now, the Mistress needs-
The creatures dig deeper still.
Failure.
The fear swallows her whole as not memories but her imagination captures her this time.
All the ways she could fail in life- could have failed in life- she's going to die now.
Failing again. She's failing the Mistress even now.
The Mistress needs help.
Florence manages to break free for the precious few seconds it takes to locate the Time Lady still crushing herself against the dusty wall as if-
The original fear is unearthed.
Dark.
She sees nothing now.
The darkness swallows her whole and she can do absolutely nothing against it.
So Florence waits.
It will leave, won't it?
Someone always turned on the light, didn't they?
Won't it be okay?
She doesn't know how long she waits but nobody comes to find her.
No one tells her that it will be okay.
Someone else is waiting too.
They are terrified.
More so than Florence and she can feel it.
Carefully Florence reaches out with her mind, extending her compassion to the someone.
The someone lightens and the brightness is shocking in its brilliance.
The haze of fear is lifted.
Florence can see again as one of the creatures creeps into view. The Mistress stands behind her, supported by a dry, old wall. She seems smaller somehow, eyes rimmed with red and lips parted in hopelessness as her knuckles slowly unclench.
The human feeds urgency into their connection. Those sorrowful eyes meet hers and together they run.
Florence takes the Time Lady's hand, squeezing it tightly, an assurance of her presence.
They reach the T.A.R.D.I.S in record time and the Mistress gets them off planet even quicker. Gently their connection is disengaged and Florence watches as the woman disappears down one of the corridors, eyes averted from her own.
"I'm just going to have a nice cup of tea while you do your human things." The T.A.R.D.I.S worries in the back of Florence's head, taking care not to disturb the fears which will need to be carefully buried again.
"No, I don't think she does want us right now." Her voice is quiet and the T.A.R.D.I.S falls silent too, obviously shaken by whatever damage the Mistress has sustained.
After a while Florence turns off down another corridor, opening the door into the closest room. The T.A.R.D.I.S seems hesitant but Florence merely sets her sights on the room's main feature.
Hours later Florence is lying in her own bed. Old fears burnt into ashes and buried deep underground in the hopes that they can never be resurrected. Now she feels only a mild satisfaction and the strange drifting that comes just before you fall asleep.
The bed dips and the human freezes.
"How can you be so content?" Almost instantly she relaxes again.
"Mistress?" The Mistress sits on the edge of the bed, eyes still red and skin ghostly pale. Her gaze locks with Florence's in an attempt to feign normality.
"Your mind. You are calm." Her whisper is broken, choked off. The human wraps her arms around the Time Lady, pulling her closer.
The Mistress doesn't cry but she comes close, drawing in a shuddering breath as Florence extends a connection once again. She grasps hold of it.
"You are not alone Mistress." The Mistress can feel the human's physical and mental warmth grounding her. Florence pushes as much calm as she can towards the Mistress, holding her tightly as the aloneness retreats.
The human presses her lips against the Time Lady's forehead and pulls her further into her embrace. Gently she lays the woman down beside her, letting the Gallifreyan rest her head against her chest.
"Us humans- we're stupidly loyal." The Mistress' arms curl around her companion's waist, "Now sleep, you silly Time Lady."
The next morning when the Mistress goes to make a cup of tea she smiles at the sight of the burning planet on the console screen and the neatly torn out piece of paper next to it.
They deserved it.
Very loyal indeed.
...
Okay so this was meant to be fluffy but it took a while to get there… ah, whatever!