Hi! I got this idea watching the music video for First of the Year by Skrillex. The idea just jumped on me and wouldn't go away so I figured it was decent enough to write. Two things about this story:

For the Doctor, this is set after Forest of the Dead.

For Sherlock, this is set after The Hounds of Baskerville but before The Reichenbach Fall.

Hope you like it!

I don't own Sherlock or Doctor Who

PROLOGUE

The man could feel harsh nightmare fingers spanning his face, dragging him back from the display of dolls. Eerily beautiful plastic faces stared at him as he was pulled into the darkness as deep as their sockets…pulled back into a more real nightmare.

He awoke, every bone in his body aching, his glasses lying slightly bent in front of him. The fear coursing through his veins reached their paramount as he looked back and saw the girl, no, creature, standing stoically behind him. He was horrified to see smoke-like energy swirling around her, no, it. This was no girl. No human being could torture him the way it did.

His brain screamed for him to get help and he reached into his pocket, keeping one eye on the monster; he was too afraid to face it, yet he couldn't turn his back. It just stood there, a blank expression on its face as it stared at the ground. His fingers fumbled his cell phone, smashing down on the buttons. 999.

"I NEED HELP NOW!" he screamed into the receiver.

And that's when the world ended.

A huge explosion behind him made him turn around, although he instantly regretted it. The cloud of smoke had grown, leeching up to the ceiling and across the floor like smog. The creature was still standing in the same position. He became more and more afraid of the moment when it raised its head.

Something moved from within the cloud. Familiar black spindly fingers waved to him as it loomed, powerful and dark —a skeleton, shrouded in tar. White, bottomless eyes completed the terrifying image. The small child below it was consumed in a pale green light and the man was vaguely reminded of a puppet show. The child was the puppet. Now, he faced the puppet-master.

The shockwave hit him with a force that would have knocked him down if it wasn't for his determination to stay upright…and stay breathing, even if it was a few seconds longer. The girl-monster looked up at him with murder in its eyes, and stomped on the ground with a chilling finality. It was then that he knew his time was up. The help he had pleaded for would not arrive to save him. But he didn't go like he thought he would; his life didn't flash before his eyes, he didn't feel the final struggle to stay alive. He didn't feel anything…except the ice-cold fear.

The girl raised her hands, poised to deliver the final blow. The monster behind her sent a pulse that pushed the dead man into the stone wall— the girl mimicked his actions— holding him there as his strength slowly drained out of him. His life force was pushed out of him as black smog, fighting outwards from the blows as the creature struck him again and again. He closed his eyes as the girl wrung her hands. With a twist, she finished the deed, and he never opened his eyes again.

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Five minutes later, a pale, slender finger slowly dragged itself diagonally down the side of the wall. It was an almost artistic stroke, as if the murky liquid that trailed behind it was part of a masterpiece. It crossed through four other slashes as a tally. All over the wall, similar tally marks lay side by side, painted on in grim fashion.

The girl admired her handiwork, then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

How's that for a start? The character's you've been waiting for will appear in the next chapter. Please Review!

Warriorette 12