More Complicated
"You did it; you're a hero," Rose laughed. "Where next?"
He shut the door."A hero?"
Me, a hero? She doesn't know who I am. What I've done. If I took her to the edge of the Time Lock…if she met a Dalek…if she really knew me…
She'd be terrified of me.
She'd reject me.
She'd run away in terror.
I can't let her know. She's the only one standing between me and the darkness. I'll let her keep believing the lie. Let her think I'm a hero.
Because maybe, just maybe, if she keeps believing it…
It will become true.
***Author's Note
This story came from a dream I had featuring the Ninth Doctor. I called him a good guy, but he said "Are you sure? I've done terrible things." The title is from a trailer for "Off the Map," where someone says "I'm not a hero. It's way more complicated than that."