A/N: Woah! Hey there! It's been a while! Sorry I haven't been writing recently, but I've just been insanely busy since I started my senior year of high school. Also, school often leaves me with a lack of inspiration and motivation, both of which are typically important to a writer.
Anyway, I hope to begin writing much more in the near future (that's what I'm telling myself, at least), which will include finishing this fan fiction. I had a dream about it last night and woke up with the whole story in my head, so now it's just a matter of making the time to write it. I promise that I will post the next part as soon as I can, though!
This story is supposed to take place between The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor (I'm not entirely sure if I have the Doctor's age and facts of that sort right – please feel free to correct me if you know what they are). It begins as a Doctor Who/sort of Firefly crossover, but pretty soon it will turn into a multi-fandom extravaganza! (I did not categorize it as a crossover, however, because not any one fandom will have more characters or whatnot than the others, and there are going to be many more then just two fandoms represented here. It is primarily a Doctor Who fan fiction with references and characters from other fandoms that one does not necessarily need to know the book/movie/show to understand. They will not be huge parts of the story, although I do hope they will make it more fun!)
Sorry about the ridiculously long author's note, but I'm really excited about this story, so I hope you like it! I'm posting both the Introduction and Chapter One at the same time, so this author's note applies to both. As always, review and enjoy!
The Doctor sat with his legs dangling over the ledge of the open doorway of the TARDIS, looking out at the black sky. In his hand was a cup of tea that had long-since gone cold. Unconsciously, his thumb fiddled with the handle of the cup in the same intricate pattern, over and over again; down along the curve, then outlining the lump where the bottom of the handle met the cup in a u-shape, and finally tracing the inside of the handle with the back of his thumb until he reached the top again. The only sound was the TARDIS humming softly. Clara was in her room asleep, so the Doctor was alone.
He had been there since Clara had left him over three hours ago, and the only movement he had made was the pattern with his thumb on the tea cup.
Gallifrey may not be lost, he thought. My family…
In his mind, he could see images of their faces, slightly distorted after over 900 years without seeing them, but not forgotten.
A tear slid down the Doctor's face, but he didn't move to wipe it away and only continued with the fiddling of the teacup.
The Doctor saw something enter his peripheral vision and he glanced in its direction, startled. A massive ship was floating slowly past the TARDIS. It did not seem to be close enough to be a threat, but it looked unlike anything he had seen before, so the Doctor stood up anyway and walked towards the console to check the scanner. He watched the screen as the signal from the ship blinked out of range.
When it was gone, he began to turn around to head back to the open doors, but was halted by an alert going off. And then another, and another. Within seconds, more than fifteen alarms were going off, and the Doctor was running back towards the console. The scanner was picking up signals identical to the first one coming towards him, and now at a faster speed. Spinning around, the Doctor leaped towards the still-open doors and leaned out around the corner to look. He counted seventeen ships, similar to the first one, but smaller and more agile looking. And more hostile looking.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the TARDIS and a sizeable hole was blown in the side. The Doctor yelled and scrambled to the flight controls as cuts were torn in his face from flying debris. Clara came stumbling into the control room, yelling, but the Doctor was too absorbed in trying to escape to hear her. The TARDIS shook as more shots were fired and whizzed past them. Through the hole, Clara could see the ships that were attacking them and gasped at their grotesqueness. What seemed to be blood painted the outside of each ship in different designs. Bones hung from random spots as decoration.
They kept firing at the Doctor and Clara, but none hit their mark. Finally, he was able to get the TARDIS moving, and they flew away from the attackers. Clara ran over to the Doctor and stared at him wide-eyed, waiting for an explanation. He met her gaze, his eyes just as fearful and confused as hers, and shook his head.
He had no clue who just blew a hole in the side of his ship, but he knew that he had to stop and fix it. She was already wheezing and both he and Clara needed a breather too. Watching the scanner for a planet to land on, the Doctor guided the TARDIS slowly along.
Clara walked around the console and picked up the shattered cup that had contained the Doctor's tea, ignoring the multitude of other chunks of debris that was scattered all over the TARDIS floor.
"I was just trying to enjoy my cup of tea, and they decide to blow a chasm in the side of my TARDIS! How rude!"
"Doctor, who were they," Clara asked.
"No idea, but I think that I should not like to run across them again."
"Well, sorry."
"What? What are you apologizing for?" When the Doctor looked up at Clara, he saw that she was staring over his shoulder. He followed her gaze past the console and through the hole in the TARDIS to see that three more ships were following. Grimacing, the Doctor reluctantly pushed the TARDIS to go faster. She groaned as she listed forward, trying to gain momentum.
"I know, I'm sorry old girl! Just a few more minutes, hang on!" Tremors rippled through the control room as more shots whooshed past them, barely missing each time. The Doctor stopped his frantic run around the console to check the scanner. There were no planets for them to land on in sight. He yelled in frustration, worried that the TARDIS may not make it long enough to find a place to land.
And then the shooting stopped, and the Doctor and Clara watched the three ships turn course and fly back where they came from.
"Doctor! Moon!" The Doctor spun around and saw that she was right: they were quickly passing a small moon that looked like a wonderful place to land. The Doctor changed course and carefully – but not so smoothly – landed on the surface of the moon. Clara looked at the Doctor for conformation that it was safe to leave the TARDIS and then jogged outside and searched the sky for any more ships. The sky was black and almost completely void of stars. The ships were nowhere in sight.
Clara walked back inside and saw that the Doctor was staring solemnly at the damage to the TARDIS.
"Don't just stand there! The TARDIS won't fix herself!" As she spoke, Clara began to make her way around the console, picking up the larger chunks of debris as she went. When she reached the Doctor, however, she dropped what she had gathered and turned his shoulders so that he had to look at her. There were still cuts in his face and Clara sighed and clicked her tongue as she took the sleeve of her dress to wipe off some of the blood. The Doctor flinched away and gave her a funny look.
"That's not sanitary, Clara! Are you trying to kill me?"
"I'll go get something from the medical room, then," she said, more amused than upset at the Doctor's outburst.
Once she left, the Doctor returned to his previous position – leaning one hip against the console and staring at the wreckage of the TARDIS.
This could take days to fix. And I don't like the idea of being stuck here for days, he thought. But I suppose it's unavoidable at the moment. The Doctor did as Clara told and began to clean up.