Hello! First Clara/Eleven fic here. The episode Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS features Clara getting separated from The Doctor in the TARDIS. Clara then discovers a secret that The Doctor would like to keep hidden. We know what this was from the show but this is another version that I wanted to write! I wasn't really expecting it to be this long, but I thought I'd stick with it. One shot. Please review! I'd really like to know what your thoughts are! Enjoy!
The TARDIS doesn't like Clara and Clara did not know why. She adored travelling with The Doctor, it allowed her to visit every single place in her precious book she owned, even visit those places in a different time. But there was something about her that the TARDIS didn't like and it bugged her. She felt unwanted in the time machine, like the TARDIS was reluctant to land the TARDIS and let her go. She knows the Doctor knows about it but whenever she tried to bring it up he just passed it off and brought up a new subject. Sometimes she felt scared, and a bit on edge and right now, that's exactly how she felt.
She had been separated from the Doctor, in corridors she never knew existed, in rooms that shots chills right though her bones. In the one ship she had called her second home for a while, and the one ship she knew hated her.
All alone like had been for around half an hour, she almost ran though the puzzling corridors yelling regular call outs for The Doctor. He has to be around here somewhere, the corridors have to end eventually, right? This ship can't be this big?
"Doctor? Doctor?" she called out with a panic, "I don't know where I am! Come find me!"
Her calls reached no further than the walls surrounding her, she could hear the echo of her voice, the sharpness within, the panic it holds. She felt the air around her becoming hotter, unsure if it's herself or something in the atmosphere. She had ran past a numerous amount of doors, none of which she had braved to go in. She didn't know what she was so scared about. Maybe it was the corridors, the same shape, the same colour, the same design, the same corridors, over and over and over again.
She'd walked though these plenty of times, to the TARDIS kitchen, wardrobe, bathroom, bedroom etc. and she had never got lost or been unable to find her way out, so why is today different? Maybe this time it's because she was alone and afraid. The TARDIS has patiently waited for this moment, to snatch her at the right point. But what does it want with her?
She decided to give one of the doors a go. She stopped in her tracks and stared at the door. It was plain black with a square shaped silver door knob. To Clara it could just be The Doctor's Study or a Living Room that she had heard the Doctor mention a couple times, or it could be something completely different. What the hell, she pushed down on the oddly shaped door knob and with both hands and a strong shove, pushed the heavy door open.
What lay ahead was far from frightening. In fact it was confusing. A large amount of tall books shelves stood strong in the centre of a varnished wooden room. The shelves surrounded something giving off a bright LED blue colour. Clara slowly walked in, her fear had left her and curiosity has crawled its way in. She made her way to the shelves and squeezed her way through the middle and towards the light.
What she saw made her smile. A large swimming pool, oval shaped shone a bright twinkle in her eyes. The longer she stared the more beautiful it became. The pure colour of the water, transparent floats to lie on made out a glass looking material, bursts of water spurred from the middle of the pool like a fountain filtering the water. The air was cool and sweet, just the right temperature. A large amount of sky blue buttons were placed on the pool edge. An inquisitive Clara skipped over, bent down close to the cool waters and hovered her fingers over one.
Pressing one she discovered a small section started to bubble like a jacuzzi, pressing another resulted in a class stand rose up from the bubbling waters suitable for placing a book to read while relaxing in the waters. By pressing a third, within a flash a layer of shiny glass quickly make it's way across the rim of the Swimming Pool to join at the other side. Once covered the waters started to bubble and churn, a beautiful sight to witness. Wanting to walk on it, Clara carefully watched her feet as she took one step. Instantly some of the bubbles curled around her feet, like it was the bubbles that were holding her up and supporting her weight. She took her second step then a few more, realising the bubbled followed and trails behind her. Giggling, she skipped and jumped liked a child around the pool and watched the bubbles magical movement.
Clara felt completely safe in this room. The TARDIS must not know she was inside this room otherwise it wouldn't have let her in if it doesn't like her. Nothing could ever go wrong in this room could it?
Clara turned her attention to the books. She had no idea why books and water were in the same room, they didn't exactly make a good mix, but whatever the reason, she quite enjoyed it.
Searching the book shelves she discovered books on the subjects of Science, History, Vintage clothing items, Foods and a variety of others. A bunch of old tinted yellow papers caught her sight. She carefully took them out and held it to the light. A title in a hand written messy writing displayed Top Places To Visit the word Cool had been added after Top in a different handwriting. A few drawings were placed around the title. One of a scarf, another of a hat, a third like a cane and a fez and a bow tie. She made her way back into the centre of the pool and sat down, the bubbles surrounding her from underneath the glass.
She looked among many of the hundreds of pages and read a bit about some of the locations. LP19, Space Station full of ship repairs and enhancements. Another Starship Zambrini. The word Starship pulling at something from her memory. A third that caught her eye called Planet Alaskain, the word Alaska causing a dull throb in her mind, making her confused.
Not wanting to think about it, she shook it off.
All of a sudden an ear-splitting screech filled the whole room. Wincing with both shock and pain she instantly dropped the papers, sprawling out everywhere and put her hands to her ears. The screech cut off when a very familiar voice took its place.
"Clara? Clara? Are you there? Can you hear me?" it called out with desperation. Clara's heart lifted.
"Doctor! Where are you?! I was so lost." Clara replied, relieved.
"Oh Clara, I thought I'd lost you forever! I'm speaking from one of the TARDIS intercoms I managed to get working, they have been blocked for the past hour, most are still blocked so it's pure luck that I have found you. Can you describe where you are?" The Doctor replied, taking a deep breath.
"I'm in some sort of strange room, with a Swimming Pool and-"
"-Books!" The Doctor interrupted. "Ha! It's cool eh?! You are in my Library Swimming Pool. My favourite room in the whole ship! Well apart from the Console room."
"Yeah, okay. So can you come get me?"
"Yep! Stay where you are and I'll come find you. Don't wonder off, otherwise you will be lost again." He stated.
"Got it." Clara smiled.
After waiting for what it felt like absolutely ages, Clara became impatient. She hated waiting, but she knew she couldn't leave the room. She had been sitting on the Pool glass impatiently watching the bubbles whirl beneath her when quiet locking sound began behind her. She turned her head and stood. The heavy door that she entered in was closed, she ran over, squeezed through the shelves and tried the door.
She tugged and pulled violently to get it open but it was of no use. The cosy and safe feeling left her and a chill let its way in. She felt her breathing increase as she breathed in something sinister in the air.
"Doctor? Doctor! I'm locked in, what's happening?" Clara yelled with a panic. "Doctor?"
No reply.
An eerie creak sounded from behind her. She turned and a door had opened in the opposite side to where she was standing. A door she had not noticed before. By looking through she could only see another of the boring dull empty but creepy corridors.
She stood still, her eyes widened and her palms began to sweat. She stared though the doorway hoping that no one would walk through the door, no one but the Doctor. She hoped he had arrived to rescue her and calm her fear, she hated being alone in the depths of a ship that she was convinced hated her. But no one came. Something wanted her to follow. But she wasn't going to of course.
She slowly made her way back to stand on the Pool glass, constantly checking on the doorway. Slowly, she sat down.
Five minutes past but to Clara it felt like a lifetime. She stared at the doorway and it was as if it was staring back, calling her, whispering her to follow, but she had to be reluctant.
Snap! A book came tumbling off from the top shelf. Clara jumped and yelped, shocking her out of her staring trance. Another fell, and a third, then a couple more. Smashing hard on to the Pool glass, about half a metre around Clara. She instantly got to her knees, attempting to stand as another set of books tumbled from the shelves. She ducked, dropped to her knees and hid her head in her hands in an attempt to try and protect herself from this sudden attack, when, the books stopped falling. She stayed clenched on the floor for a few moments. Making it positive that nothing else would fall.
Cautiously, she lifted her head and had a quick scan around her before taking a deep breath and relaxing back into a normal seating position.
When...
A loud creak, creeping from behind gave a negative vibe throughout the whole room. Clara's ear curled at the noise as she turned to see where it was coming from. Looking up she discovered something that scared her. One of the bookcases, directly behind her and more than twice her height swayed with instability.
Clara froze.
Her eyes widened, her mouth gaped as she felt her breathing increase with intense fear.
The sway becoming more constant and more unstable. Books tumbled from the shelves, attacking Clara's feet, causing her to back away with a panic. But this means, she'd be backing towards the door, something she did not want to do.
With one last loud creak, the over powering book case overturned and started to fall hard to the Pool Glass. Clara screamed, automatically scrambling to her feet and turning to run to avoid it hitting her. The bookcase crashed hard onto the glass, fortunately missing Clara and creating a tremendous amount of noise. The force flashed it's way through the ground and a huge rumble was felt by her. But then she realised, what she was standing on was glass, and that was one hell of an impact.
Crack.
She froze, panicking.
Shatter. The glass crumbled and broke, sinking into the water, taking the bookcase, books, The Doctors papers and Clara with it. She screamed.
Smacking the water hard, it came as a huge shock. Her clothes instantly becoming heavy in the deep water, weighing her down. Thank goodness she could swim. She dived up to the surface and burst her head out of the water, taking a huge gasp. She could feel shards of thin glass drifting though the water. Dangerously sharp, dangerously close. She swam fast, desperate to get out as more books from the shelves tumbled either onto her or near her. Sharp glass dashed past her skin, tearing at her red dress. She winced as she travelled though the water, at the razor-sharp material that could easily pierce her skin.
She grabbed the edge of the pool with huge relief. She hung onto it like a friend, like a safety barrier as she used all of her burning strength to pull herself up.
Disorientated and very afraid, she stumbled to her feet, wanting to get as far away from the pool as possible. She stumbled forward quite a few metres and a sudden cold chilled her bones. A loud slam sounded. She tripped on the hard floor and until a cold chill crawled though her bones, she realised, she went through the door, and it just closed right behind her.
She lay flat on the floor, exhausted and uncomfortable, also in dripping wet clothes. After catching her breath, she pulled herself to her feet. She was back to the eerie, metallic and cold corridors. After trying the door to see if she could be let back in, it proved to be unsuccessful. The only thing she could do is to follow the cold pathways to try and find somewhere.
With no rooms in sight she followed the pathway for a numerous of minutes. She found herself shivering with coldness as a trail of water left her dress to follow along the floor. She finally came to a door, she stood a few metres away from the door and stared it up and down. This door was different. It was a dirtied silver colour, with a black door knob and strange circular patterns written on the door. Her curiosity came tingling. It was tempting to see what was behind but it's a different room, perhaps hiding something not wanting to be found. She thinks she could let this curiosity pass her just this once. She turned back on herself and headed the other way.
She walked for only as little of 20 seconds, taking only a couple turns when she came to something familiar. The door, again. The same silver door with the circular writing. Making a confused face, she ignored it and walked on.
She soon noticed trails of water coming up ahead of her. Presumably the same ones she made. There was only two ways she could choose, and each one ended up in the same place.
She tried the Labyrinth of corridors a further few times but instantly ending up at the same place, a around 10 metres from the door. It was like something was wanting her to end up here. The TARDIS, she thought. She shook her head. There must have been a doorway she had missed, there must have been.
"Clara? Clara! Where are you? I'm in the Library." The Doctor's voice projected loud from the speaker. "Wh-what happened to this room? My books, my papers!"
"Doctor! The glass, it broke-"
"What? It can't have, it's strong enough for seven Rhinos to jump up like a trampoline on it!"
"It shattered, and I was forced out. Now I'm in this corridor with no way out, and only one door."
"Which door?"
"I don't know, it's silver, it's has circular writing on it."
"Clara don't." he quickly snapped. "Don't go in there. Wh- why are you there? The doors are sealed and hidden so only I can enter those corridors. What did you do, Clara?"
"I don't know. I haven't done anything. Why can't I go in? What's so bad about it?"
"Clara please, I cannot tell you, but you have to listen. Do not go in there, just stay exactly where you are, and I'll come to you. Promise?"
"I promise." Strong words.
What is so bad about that room? It can't be that bad. But the more she was told she can't go in there, the more tempting it was.
She paced the room for a few minutes. A bite to her lip and a hand on her hip, she walked impatiently along the narrow corridor and back again. The urge became more and more tempting. The more she stared at the door, she started to hear voices, calling her in, whispering at her to follow into the room. At times she thought she saw the door knob turning as if to open, but at a second look it was still. The TARDIS did not like Clara for some unknown reason, so this must be something to do with that. Something the TARDIS wants to show her. If the TARDIS did not like her, it must be something bad, but her curiosity is getting the better of her.
A few minutes passed and the voices grew louder, she struggled to make them out. "Claraaa, Claraaaa." one whispered in a hostile tone.
"Come closer Clara. Come on in." another spoke creepily.
She didn't recognise the voices but they were sending a huge chill down her spine. She started to shudder, the cold of the corridor against her delicate skin was freezing enough but her fear increasing was shivering her bones.
As they called louder she violently started to shake her head, to stop them and pressing her hands hard against her ears- but nothing worked, in fact it seemed to make them worse.
Maybe the only way to stop them was to follow and enter the door but she would go against the Doctor and she has never done that before. But it can't be anything that bad, the Doctor wouldn't keep things so extreme in the TARDIS, would he? He was one to protect from danger and not contain it.
Before she knew it, it was like the voices were grabbing her and pulling her. She slowly walked towards the door; Ignoring the Doctors orders, breaking the promise and letting the TARDIS lead her way.
Each step closer felt wrong but something of her wouldn't let her retreat. Her hand reached out and carefully set onto the cold door knob. She cautiously looked behind her to check to see if The Doctor was near, no one. Turning back, she stared at the circular writing on the door, not that it meant anything but she found it awfully intriguing. She moved her free hand and placed it on the door to push it, she knew it was heavy.
With a deep but shaky breath, she turned the knob and hushed hard onto the heavy door- and what she discovered terrified her.
At first it was pitch black. Making Clara afraid that something would jump out at her. The room was surprisingly warmer, wasn't hot but was certainly warmer, which was from the cold corridors she was in. Her hand moved to the wall, she desperately fiddled around for a light switch or something to turn the lights on- but she found nothing. Pulling the courage, she walked in a couple steps. A sudden light flooded the room, instantly blinding her at the brightness. She winced and put her hand to her eyes for a brief moment before starting to adjust to the light. And when she adjusted, she was horrified.
The room was fairly small; a box shape. An old fashioned desk with a wooden chair was placed at an awkward angle with a computer shoved on top. The room was painted a dark red colour, the floor: a silver metal that sounded when walking. But what covered the walls was what scared Clara; photographs and pictures. But they weren't any pictures, they were her. She stared, dumbfounded. Confused. Shocked. There were many. Covering two opposite sides of the room. She stared at them. Some she recognised. The majority of them, she didn't. They looked like her, exactly like her, but she have never seem them before.
She found a bunch of her in a dress. A red dress, Victorian style. Her hair waved and hanging loosely down her shoulders. Herself, standing in a pile of snow, another holding a metal cup on a tray outside a pub called The Rose & Crown. Next to them, pinned up were maps of the location and notes in the Doctor's writing on the location. More pictures included her wearing a blue type Victorian dress with her hair tied up. There were arrows drawn in black marker linking things up and circles drawn around them. She carefully read some of the notes pinned up by it.
Name: Clara Oswin Oswald
Governess to two young children.
She gasped, ripped the note off the wall and threw herself back a couple steps.
'Clara Oswin Oswald?' wait, 'Oswin?' She thought of the name and two things sprung to her mind. Her first adventure with the Doctor, when she was at the Café, with The Doctor, when having to hack the programme she had to think of a username and she thought of that name.
Also, when first meeting the Doctor. When he knocked at her door, he spoke. "Clara Oswald! Clara Oswin Oswald!"
She started to panic, her breathing worsened as she didn't understand. He's met her before? but she hasn't? Her name isn't Oswin! They can't be the same person, it's just a coincidence. Her confusion turned to The Doctor, and she started to get angry. She dropped the note and it fluttered to the floor. Her hands started to fidget as her eyes darted to scan the other pictures while thinking.
She ran away with The Doctor for the fun, he was a strange, lonely man who could travel through all of time and space in his magical blue box. But he wasn't what she thought he was. He wanted her, not because he liked her, but because he had saw someone like her before and thought it was her. She could understand his confusion but why would someone go to all of this extent to follow this coincidence. This was sick. Creepy. Why have all these pictures stuck up of her? She felt extremely disgusted and used. Which made her anger even worse.
Maybe the pictures are her? The TARDIS did lead her into here, so he did have something to hide, so he could be true. But then why would the TARDIS hate her? Unless it hated her mystery. She violently scanned around and saw different ones, which she angrily ripped off the wall. Some pictures of her in a short red dress, wearing a belt with a small whisk attached. Notes beside read:
Name: Oswin Oswald
Makes Soufflé's.
Turn out to be a Dalek.
"What?" Clara whispered, her face screwing up. The puzzling information creating a huge blur in her mind that she couldn't understand. She hated this. The man who she trusted and been friends with for a while now had kept this from her all this time. She found herself panicking, making her breathing manic and her anger level even higher. She lashed out. Screaming with rage, her hand grabbing the pictures on the wall, ripping them off and tearing a few into shreds. Before she knew it she was crying, tears quickly falling down her confused face only to fall and join the shredded pictures on the floor. The tears full of fury and hatred. She sobbed and yelled out, as if she was destroying The Doctor.
"Clara! Clara? What's happening? she heard The Doctor speak from far out of view. He had heard her screams. "Hang on, I'll be right there!"
Clara froze, trying to be silent after hearing him, but the silence was broke with her ragged and rapid breathing. She felt her heart pound inside her chest, a horrible feeling flashed through her, like she was a child in a huge amount of trouble. The Doctor could turn that corner any second and see Clara in the room and ripped up pictures all over the floor. He'd definitely hate her for sure. But hearing his voice made her angry and disgusted even more so she didn't care about what he thought. Fresh fury crawled though her bones and she carried on ripping and shredding the remaining photos off the wall.
She became exhausted, her arms dropping to hand by her waist. Her anger turned to being upset. She turned to stand with her back to the door entrance, quietly sobbing and controlling her breathing in her confusion. Her arms moved to wrap around her body as she started to shiver again in her wet clothes.
"Clara? Clara?" The Doctor's voice called from afar. Repeating often. Clara should be running, maybe hiding and pretending she didn't see obnoxious room. But she was too shocked and angry at him to move. The voice became closer and closer but it just came as a blur to her. Fast footsteps were heard getting nearer too.
"Clara? Where are you?" The Doctor called again. He turned a corner in the cool corridor. "Clar-" he stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He saw Clara, through the door to the strictly forbidden room and standing with her back to him. Anger flashed through him.
"Clara! CLARA!" he screamed, full of rage whilst running towards her in the room. "I told you not to go in. Why didn't you listen to me? Clara! WHY?"
He stormed up to the door, his arms swinging fast by his side and shouting at her when he didn't get a reply. "Answer me Clara, why didn't you listen?" he screamed at her. He stopped dead at the doorway, trying to hold his rage when he heard a sound that made his heart twist. Clara's cries. He could hear her crying, gasping and panicking with her back to him. He could see that she was staring at floor at shredded up photos what The Doctor knew she had done. He could see she was soaking wet and shaking with being cold and shocked. She's obviously very afraid and confused. Though a part of him was truly angry but he had to contain it because Clara has just discovered something that she wasn't supposed to. Yes, he was angry at her, but Clara is frightened and confused so he had to keep calm. But now he has an awful thing to explain...
The Doctor walked in slowly and up to Clara. "Clara, I'm sorry, just please come out of this room and I can try to explain." he said softly.
Clara turned slowly to face him, her eyes red with tears, her breathing shaky and uneven.
"What is this? W-Wh-what is this?" Clara asked, her lip quivering in fear and confusion.
The Doctor placed his hand to cup her face, he looked directly into her eyes. Something Clara was uncomfortable about. "Clara, I'm sorry you found this but please come out of this room and I can explain," he told her, not sure what he'll explain to her but he'll have to come up with something.
"Get of of me!" Clara angrily shook his hand off and angrily tried to push him back a couple steps, "No, I'm not leaving till you tell me what this is." shouting at him.
The Doctor stumbled in his words as he tried to explain himself, "Clara, I-"
"Why have you got pictures of me? Stuck on the wall. I don't recognise them but why have you got them? What kind of creep are you?" She questioned with fury, unsure of all this time she had been with him, he was false.
"No, Clara, you don't understand, I-" he muttered, worried.
"No, I don't understand. So you better explain now.." Clara demanded.
"Well I-"
"I trusted you. I thought you were a great man. But you have a room full of pictures from me and a load of notes that do not make sense. That's pretty disturbing." she blubbered, tears streaming down her face, anger and confusion overpowering her. Clara could see The Doctor was getting agitated at being confronted like this.
"Clara you are soaking wet and shivering! Have my jacket and try to calm down." The Doctor told her, trying to change the subject before he let his anger explode. He proceeded to take off his jacket.
"Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down? You are sick, and creepy. I don't know how you will but you need to explain yourself to me right here."
"Clara I'm neither of those things." he replied serious and annoyed.
"Yes you are." she shouted at him
The Doctor lost it, his anger exploded and he shouted at Clara with rage and anger as he threw his jacket hard onto the floor. "I look at you every day and I don't understand a thing about you. What are you? A trick? A trap? You can't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about because I know you know. So tell me, what are you Clara?" he roughly grabbed her shoulder and stared deep into her tearful eyes.
She looked on in horror, "Doctor you're scaring me." she said, quietly, like a frightened child. She carefully lifted up his arm to relieve his grip from his shoulder. She took a few steps away from him.
"Answer me!" he yelled, more angry than last time.
"I-I don't know." she sobbed, feeling over powered by him.
"Of course you do! Come on, tell me now."
"I don't know what you are on about? You're scaring me, Doctor and right now I want to be as far away as you as possible."
The Doctor sighed, "You really don't know, you're my impossible girl, your mystery is really beyond me."
"I-I don't understand." she answered.
"Well...neither, do...I." he said sternly.
"So you lied. Every time I've caught you just staring at me and I've asked out what was wrong. It was this. You didn't want me to travel with you because you liked having me around. It's because of my apparent 'mystery'. You could hate me, Doctor, for all that I know." Clara delivered some truths to The Doctor.
The Doctor made a sympathetic face, "Clara, no no no of course I don't hate you."
"The TARDIS does," she replied. The Doctor sighed and pulled her in for a hug to calm her shivers and cries. She sobbed into his chest before instantly retracting the hug in annoyance. "No," she said firmly.
"Clara, please." The doctor begged, hoping she wouldn't be annoyed at him
"No." she turned to run out of the room. She proceeded to run but stopped in her tracks at a note she had missed, pinned right near the exit. It read.
Run you clever boy and remember.
She stared at it, ignoring the Doctor was there and couldn't help but repeat it. "Run you clever boy, and remember." she ran out, much to The Doctor's annoyance after hearing her say that. He called after her, concerned but she didn't reply. She just ran and ran and ran as far away from him as possible.
Clara found that she couldn't stop running. The cold corridor had changed. It was much warmer and the corridor changed itself so she would actually lead somewhere. The questioned on why the TARDIS hated her, maybe it was the TARDIS that made that room up and that was what The Doctor was trying to explain. She shook her head. When she is up to it, she'll face him again. But right now she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
A new door stood tall to her right. She stopped and opened it with all of her might. She hoped it would be a new path out of here. But she found the swimming pool library again. But it wasn't battered. The glass wasn't smashed, the books weren't toppled over. It was immaculate.
"Stop messing with my head," she screamed at the TARDIS as she proceeded to run through the room. Out at the opposite exit, she found herself at familiar corridors. "Stop it," she ran more, trying new doors and ways out. "You want me gone, I get that. I'm trying to get out." she yelled wiping her remaining tears.
After what felt like a long half an hour. She ran along a silvery blue hallway to come out at the TARDIS console room. She could hear The Doctor calling her. She hadn't noticed he was following her but the voices were getting close. She turned her head to look, but she couldn't see him so she ran up the console room stairs and towards the TARDIS exit doors. "I'm gone." she shouted and shut the TARDIS doors the behind her to discover she was parked right outside the Maitland's house. She rushed inside.
The TARDIS doesn't like Clara and Clara did not know why.
Thanks for reading. R&R would greatly be appreciated.