SuperWho AU - Jocelyn Barnes is a prophet, who has been fated to help the Doctor against the Apocalypse.
St. Mary's Orphanage was small in comparison to others in the region. It was made of dark bricks with a marble statue of the holy mother herself looming atop the roof. Not far from the doorstep sat a girl with dark locks of hair just reaching her shoulders, surely no older than seven years of age. Peach chalk dust rose up sprinkling itself on her uniform. Her delicate hands drew the gaunt face of the man with thick hair that consumed her mind. A forgotten notebook laid beside her, open to a page where a drawing of the stranger approaching, was clearly visible. Black hair hung closely around his thin face, a cane sprang out with each step he took, his suit jacket billowing out behind him. His name was Death and his shiny shoes came to a stop mere inches from the mural of a garden the girl had drawn. Amid the Garden were white blocks as markers for the angels that watched nervously overhead. His soulless eyes swept across the mural before swinging upward, a small scowl biting at his lips. The lord's firstborns were such nosy little brats.
The girl shook her long bangs out of her eyes as she gazed up at him. "Hello Death." She greeted with a smile. His eyes met hers but his head remained raised for a moment. "I told the angels not to worry, that you're just here to talk but.." she trailed off in a shrug, turning her attention to the chalk drawing.
Death studied her curiously. She was so indifferent to what he was. Then again she was a child and her innocence could easily be idiocy. His eyes glided to what she was working on before gluing onto her again. "Do you know who you are?" he asked, his empty voice echoed through the silent night.
The chalk paused in her small hand as she looked up. "I' m no one yet." she said simply.
"…Who is Jocelyn Barnes?" Death asked, clasping both hands atop his cane.
"Me...but not me yet." the little girl answered, focusing on her drawing.
"…And what else?" Death pressed.
Now she understood but still she didn't meet his gaze. "Escort to the Timelord." She said.
"The Doctor." Death mused.
"Mm-hmm.." she hummed. "It's why you're here. Poking," Her dark eyes hesitantly met his. "For your long lost son."
Emotionless as ever, Death was unmoved. "Tell me what you know."
"The Timelords were your version of children weren't they? But the Doctor had to blow them up..for the good of Earth…over there.." she waved her hand in place of 'another dimension' which wasn't quite in her vocabulary yet. A sad gleam coated her eyes as she looked down at the uncompleted chalk-drawing of the Doctor. "The Doctor's the last one left. What he did haunts him, but it fuels him to help others, no matter where they are or what they are."
A smile sprouted on her lips the same instant that a frown grew on Death's face. The end of his cane found the base of her chin and raised her head so he could get a good look at her. "You consider the Doctor a hero?" Death asked. With some difficulty, she nodded. Death studied her long and hard. "Don't." he said retracting his cane. Turning on his heel, Death began to walk away but the moment she blinked her eyes, he had disappeared.
20 years later
Jocelyn sat cross-legged with her back against the structure, her hand flying across a new sheet of notebook paper. She was sketching two men, both with wavy hair but whose faces couldn't be more different.
When the earth began to shake, she paused her eyes searching the sky. Jocelyn slowly flipped to the previous page of her notebook. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and Jocelyn felt the structure she was leaning against crack. Blinking rapidly, Jocelyn staggered to her feet. Keeping one hand on the structure, she guided herself to its front, her fingertips tracing the crack.
That was when she first saw the Doctor, with his powder-blue dress-shirt and infamous bowtie, loose slacks held up by suspenders barely visible beneath his tweed jacket. His brilliant face was turned toward the sky, his mouth slightly ajar. "My what was that?" he wondered aloud.
"You just split open a hellgate." Jocelyn greeted.
The Doctor lowered his head then tilted it ever so slightly, as his blue eyes, deep and gleaming honed in on her. "…A hellgate?" he repeated. He fluffed his jacket. "This world has a gate to hell, goodie." He said to himself, though he moved closer to Jocelyn. "And what do they call you?" he asked.
Leaning her back against the hellgate, Jocelyn held up her notebook, showing the Doctor the drawing of him which he leaned forward to examine. It was detailed sketch of him stepping out of the TARDIS. "Ah I see, an artist aye?" the Doctor mused. "We've met before?"
Jocelyn shook her head, flipping the book closed. "My name is Jocelyn Barnes. I'm a prophet."
"…A prophet you say?" The Doctor repeated.
"Mm-hmm." Jocelyn hummed.
"And you knew I'd be here?"
"Known for a while."
There was something of a frown biting at the corner of his lips as the Doctor gazed at Jocelyn. "Well Miss Barnes, I'm sorry to say, you got your details wrong." He said at last.
"….Excuse me?" Jocelyn replied.
The Doctor held an arm out behind him. "Do you see the TARDIS?" he asked.
Jocelyn looked around. "Um…no.." she admitted.
"Precisely." The Doctor replied. He raised his other arm up to the first one, then clapped. A purple policebox flickered into sight, the TARDIS. "I had the invisibility on." he explained thumbing at it.
Jocelyn stared at him in disbelief. "….You tart." She stammered, realizing he had poked fun at her drawing.
The Doctor closed the space between them. "Mm a prophet deadlocked on me but unresponsive to my humor." He mused, snatching the notebook out of Jocelyn's hands.
"Hey!" she protested while the Doctor wasted no time flipping through it. "Give it back." The instant her hands moved towards it the Doctor held it out of reach, his thumb planted against the page of the wavy-haired men.
"Who are they?" The Doctor asked pointing at the drawing.
"I'm not sure, your arrival interrupted my vision." Jocelyn said.
The Doctor looked at the drawing again, then handed the notebook back to Jocelyn. "My apologises, an unexpected arrival is usually how time travel goes. Usually…Prophet." The Doctor responded, a certain gleam coating his deep eyes as he moved past Jocelyn. "You mentioned a hellgate" he continued studying the structure behind them. It was a triangluar tomb made of concrete but in place of a doorknob there was a steel pentagram which had been split right down the middle. "Fascinating. Did my TARDIS do this? Of course it did, that burst of multi-colored light as I landed, makes sense now." The Doctor turned and faced the TARDIS. "You naughty girl." He told it before spinning to face Jocelyn again. "What was in this so called 'hellgate'? Surely I didn't just release hell…Just…tortured spirits? DEMONS, yes that must be it right?"
"You talk fast." Jocelyn noted.
This seemed to take the Doctor offguard. "I don't talk fast. You just don't talk!" he argued.
Jocelyn held her hand up dismissively. "Not demons. You Doctor, have just released the seven deadly sins." She informed.