RAPTURE, a doctor who fanfic

Warnings: Angst, Character Study, Introspection, Horror, Dark!fic
A/N: Written for who_contest's Prompt: Rapture. I had the idea for this almost within days of this challenge coming out. I thought of doing a Bioshock/Doctor Who cross-over, (the Challenge Name made that one too easy), but luckily for everyone, I thought better of it. But even as I settled on (a close approximation to) this idea, Time (as always) was set against me and I was unable to sit down and write it...until tonight. It didn't quite come out as I thought it would and I'm sure my original point/plot-bunny was lost somewhere along the way, but this is as close as I can come with what little time I had to play in. I almost wish this was...MORE, but alas, this is all I could do with the time and Words that I could find. There is only one more note to be made on this piece and it is the eerie love/fetish I seem to hold for machines. I don't know where it came from, but I cannot apologize for it, as much as I feel I should. *Grins* As per usual, this fic is mostly unbeta'd and written in one go, so please forgive any mistakes and/or blatant vagueness. And (as always), I apologize for any repetition, misspellings, sentence fails, grammatical oh-noes and general horridness. Unbeta'd fic is overly-thinky/wandery/blithery/dark and unbeta'd.
Disclaimer(s):I do not own the scrumptious Doctor or his lovely companions. That honor goes to the BBC and (for now) the fantastic S. Moffat. The only thing that belongs to me is this fiction - and I am making no profit. Only playing about!

It was an ancient vessel, well-worn yet cared for lovingly, its battered beauty a testament to its century long run. The Rapture was the only shuttle to (and from) the planet Harmony, a pleasant spot that was famous for its Singing Sands and glass beaches. He had known Amy and Rory would love it there – the peace and shining beauty were just what his Ponds required after the (several) harrowing adventures they had just endured – the last one being too narrow a miss for his own liking. He hated 'peace' and the slow path it often required, but he would do anything to erase the exhausted aura they both carried, the deep sense of unease that had started to pervade the TARDIS - one that smacked too close to an ending –

He hated endings even more.

He didn't want to quite name his own feelings about losing them (in any form or fashion), as 'desperate', but he was sure that it was the proper name for the creeping panic that the thought of saying goodbye to his Ponds induced within his hearts. So, like the selfish old man he was rumored (and proving) to be, he wheedled them into one more trip. A trip on the slow path.

And the Rapture was the perfect non-adventure to recharge all of their batteries and freshen their outlook. It wasn't ideal in his own mind, but humans needed a change of pace now and again – and if it made them happy, he was more than willing to give them anything that they needed, anything that they wanted.

As good ideas went, this was one of his better ones.

Rory found the vessel quaint and homey. Amy loved the Gallery of Planets exhibition (and the stories he could tell of various ones he had visited). All in all, they were having a splendid time. Harmony proved to be just as advertised: all sweeping blue planes of glass – the green sands underneath deeply beauteous and perfectly pitched – bringing a sense of peace and contentment within the notes they carried. They spent a fortnight there (much to his own surprise) and the trip back was even better than the trip there.

At least, until the point where 'back' was no longer an option.

And now he had no idea where the Ponds were and how he would reach them before the ship came apart. The feeling of 'desperate' had returned and the panic was like a mad thing within his breast. A curious sensation and not at all pleasant.

He had known fear before, several times over across his many lives – but those moments of terror were nothing like the sensations that clawed within him for the last few minutes. Those minutes seemed like hours and his sense of Time was distorted and dulled (which did nothing to ease the peculiar and terrible feelings that were assaulting his hearts); the only thing he could focus on was the VR suite – the last place he had known the Ponds to be heading toward. It was hours ago and a long shot at best, but maybe there would be a saving grace – an eleventh hour reprieve that had been so prevalent when he was young…and seemed so few and far between the older (and less wise) he got.

The ship's hull started groaning in an ominous way as he doubled back on his own footsteps, determination narrowing his focus as he raced through the increasingly empty corridors. Soon it would just be him, the captain and the Ponds. At least, so he hoped. The VR suites were at the aft of the main ship –

And so were the failing engines.

O-o-O

The Rapture had some of the best Virtual Reality technology in the known universe.

It was famous for not only its top-notch transport to one of the most beautiful planets in the Sixth Cluster Galactic (which was a ranking that was sought after and fiercely coveted by its crew), but the luxury, style and longevity of the ship itself. The Rapture had been sailing the star lanes for well over a century – its crew made up of the descendants of the original sailors of the vessel, some of the finest pilots and engineers in all of the known galaxies. They were dedicated to their ship, to the people they carried within her – and they only took the best of everything on board – from food, to arts and entertainment.

Many came for the voyage to Harmony. Many more stayed an extra turn or two to indulge in the Virtual Simulators, famous for being low maintenance, high safety and almost better than a good night's sleep.

The Ponds were no different in that respect.

They were fascinated to learn that Rapture was not only one of the oldest vessels in the star lanes to still be sailing (and in just the same tip-top shape she was when she first left port over a century before), but that the design, idea and engineering was cultivated and mapped out in the very same Virtual Reality Simulator that the Rapture now housed within her hull.

Not only was the ship named Rapture, but the VR Suites also had the same name: Reality Actuator Para-net – The Universal Reach Enterprises. The original designers and engineers of the ship had also built (and perfected) some of the first virtual hologrammatic chambers that would morph into the latest 'Virtual Reality' units the for which the ship had been named.

Amy and Rory thought it would be the perfect ending to a truly marvelous vacation. The fact that the units could be linked cinched the idea and they happily spent the last couple of days of the voyage dreaming and playing within the VR suites.

The Doctor had kicked up a fuss at first, but they finally coaxed him around, assuring him of the safety that the ship was famous for and the worlds they could explore within the Suites (all without getting shot at, blown up or hauled off to answer for crimes they hadn't known they had committed). Eventually they convinced him and he left them to it, opting for the reality outside of the VR suites to entertain him, while they explored whole other universes (and a bit of each other) inside the simulators.

They thought it would be the perfect ending to their vacation.

They had no idea how wrong they were.

O-o-O

The engines had reached a pitch that meant 'unsalvageable' in the Doctor's ears – and he hadn't even reached the last half of the ship yet. He was racing against Time itself and he knew (just knew) deep within his hearts he would never make it in the short span of seconds he had left.

The fires that had broken out all over the ship were indicative of massive cascade failure of the safety systems. The security was the first thing to go, next would be gravity, then life-support.

And the last few corridors were riddled with sparking cables, rubble and damaged support structures. It was like tap dancing in a live minefield while juggling grenades – and someone with a nasty sense of humor had pulled all the pins.

He wasn't panicking any longer.

His TARDIS was a lifetime away and he wasn't panicking. He couldn't see his way to reaching the Ponds before the ship broke apart around them, but he couldn't feel the fear gnawing away (like a small, yet vicious, wild animal), at his psyche anymore. He felt a sense of deep peace. Of endless calm. And that should have told him everything, even as he felt the expanse of 'Nothing' unfurl within.

It was over. He had lost.

It was with that thought that he stopped (five corridors, two doors and three engine ports away), sat down on a pile of hot rubble – and waited for the End.

Everything would be okay within one minute and two seconds. He knew that now.

All he had left was Time.

O-o-O

" – wasn't made for anyone but humans," the technician protested. "He should have informed me before he requested to be linked in."

"Well, it wasn't as if you had bleeding advertised 'For Humans Only, No Time Lords Allowed'," Rory growled. "And it isn't exactly answering the question, now is it?!"

"What is happening to him?!" Amy asked, voice tight and thin as she watched her best friend go limp within the imaging chamber, his desperate writhing almost easier to watch than this sudden stillness. "Why is he like that?!"

"I-I don't know," the technician bleated, fingers flying over the controls as she tried to 'see' inside the virtual world the Doctor was now mired in. "The chamber is made to simulate rapture, design worlds to your own mental specifications. I can't think why he wouldn't…maybe he had a bad reaction to the psychic patch inside the simulator – is he a telepathic species?"

"Oh god," Rory rasped, face going white as he thought of the ramifications of her last question. "Oh god, he is – what does that mean?!"

The tech (Lania, they would learn later – her name was Lania), burst into frightened tears, her frantic pushing of buttons slowing to a stop as the Doctor started to buck and kick against the harness – machines within the chamber whining as the psychic patch overloaded the main computer systems. The lights flickered and electricity bounced between the walls of the chamber, the Doctor's struggles increasing as the circuits blew on the tech's console.

"You have to get him out now!" Amy thundered, rushing to the door to yank at the dead-lock, fear and anger over-riding any sense of self-preservation.

"No, he can't be unhooked manually," Lania whimpered, clutching weakly at Rory as he tried to assist Amy in her efforts at breaking down the door. "It would, it would –"

"It would what," Rory retorted, the fierceness in his gaze backing the tech up several paces until she almost collided with the (now sparking) console. "Kill him? How do you know it isn't killing him now?!"

"He should have told me," she moaned, sinking to the floor as Amy pounded on the emergency kill-switch, the smoke filling the chamber now obscuring the Doctor from sight. "He should have told me."

O-o-O

He hated endings even more…