The Fires of Pompeii
The Tardis has parked herself in a small curtained-off alcove. The Doctor, Sophia and Donna step out into the sunshine. The streets are lined with vendors of various goods.
"Ancient Rome. Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome." The Doctor introduces Rome to Donna.
"Oh, my God. it's, it's so Roman. This is fantastic." Donna comments as Sophia laughs. "I'm here, in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead."
"Well, don't tell them that." The Doctor says.
"Hold on a minute. That sign over there's in English." Donna points out as painted on the side of a barrow is two amphorae for the price of one. "Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?"
"No, no, no, no. That's the Tardis translation circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well. You're talking Latin right now. " Sophia teaches her the Tardis translation circuits to Donna.
"Seriously?" Donna inquires. The Doctor and Sophia nods to Sophia. "I just said seriously in Latin."
"Oh, yeah." The Doctor agrees.
"What if I said something in actual Latin, like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?" Donna asks about Latin with the translation.
"I'm not sure. You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?" The Doctor tells her.
"I'm going to try it." Donna says as she goes to a fruit seller.
"Afternoon, sweetheart. What can I get you, my love?" A stallholder asks what he can get to Donna.
"Er, veni, vidi, vici." Donna says to the stallholder.
"Huh? Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy." The stallholder tells her.
"Yeah." Donna agrees as she walks away. "How's he mean, Celtic?"
"Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are. Learnt something." Sophia evaluates as a young woman with a white painted face and wearing a red cloak watches them leave.
"Don't our clothes look a bit odd?" Donna asks about clothes.
"Nah. Ancient Rome, anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger." The Doctor compares Rome to Soho.
"You've been here before then?" Donna asks if he's been here before.
"Mmm. Ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Coliseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus. You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything? Try this way." The Doctor describes as the young woman follows them through the streets until they come out into a piazza.
"Not an expert, but there's seven hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've only got one?" Donna asks about the one big, bare-headed mountain. Then the ground shakes. The vendors hang onto their stalls as pottery falls and breaks. "Wait a minute. One mountain, with smoke. Which makes this..."
"Pompeii. We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day." The Doctor annouces as he, Sophia and Donna run back to the Tardis, but -.
"You're kidding. You're not telling me the Tardis has gone." Donna says.
"Okay." The Doctor tells Donna.
"Where is it then?" Donna asks where the Tardis is.
"You told him not to tell you." Sophia says.
"Oi. Don't get clever in Latin." Donna complains.
"Hold on a minute." The Doctor tells himself as he goes to the fruit seller from before. "Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?"
"Sold it, didn't I?" The fruit seller says.
"But it wasn't yours to sell." The Doctor corrects him.
"It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it." The fruit seller tells him otherwise.
"Who'd you sell it to?" The Doctor asks who he sold it to.
"Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it." The fruit seller gives the Doctor directions to Caecillius.
"Thanks." The Doctor says as he leaves and returns. "What'd he buy a big blue wooden box for?"
-!-
The Doctor later runs into Donna.
"Ha. I've got it. Foss Street's this way." The Doctor tells Donna about where Foss Street is.
"No. Well, I found this big sort of amphitheatre thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?" Donna asks if they can ring a bell.
"What do you want a bell for?" Sophia asks Donna about the bell.
"To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?" Donna asks when Vesuvius erupts.
"It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow." The Doctor notes the date to Donna.
"Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy." Donna says.
"Yeah, except we're not going to." The Doctor disagrees.
"But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people." Donna reminds him about his title.
"Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it." The Doctor explains about fixed points in time (from Father's Day.) to Donna.
"Says who?"
"Says me."
"What, and you're in charge?" Donna asks who is in charge.
"Tardis, Time Lords, yeah." The Doctor tells her that he is in charge now.
"Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself." Donna disagrees with him.
"You stand in the market place announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on. Tardis. We are getting out of here." The Doctor explains to her.
"Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman." Donna complains to him.
"Oh, I bet you will." The Doctor agrees.
-!-
Another earthquake from the volcano is in full blast, Caecilius and his family are back in positions. The Doctor catches the marble bust first. Donna and Sophia are in watch of him and the family.
"Whoa! There you go." The Doctor says to Caecilius.
"Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor." Caecilius tells the Doctor.
"But that's me, I'm a visitor. Hello." The Doctor lies to him.
"Who are you?" Caecillius asks the group.
"I am Spartacus." The Doctor names himself to Caecillius.
"I am also." Sophia agrees with the Doctor's stupid name.
"And so am I." Donna also agrees.
"Mister and Mrs Spartacus, and the lady in the middle is your daughter?" Caecillius asks the Doctor and the two other females next.
"Oh no, no, no. We're not, we're not married." The Doctor disagrees.
"We're not together." Donna disagrees.
"Oh, then brother and sisters? Yes, of course. You look very much alike." Caecilius asks if Donna, Sophia and the Doctor are all in the same family.
"Really?" The three of them ask eachother of that question.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trade." Caecilius says to him.
"And that trade would be?" Sophia asks about the trade.
"Marble. Lopus Caecilius. Mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man." Caecillius explains his occupation to the Doctor and his two acompliances.
"That's good. That's good, because I'm the marble inspector." The Doctor lies as he flashes his psychic paper.
"By the gods of commerce, an inspection. I'm sorry, sir. I do apologise for my son." Metella says as she pours away Quintus' goblet of wine.
"Oi." Quintus complains.
"And this is my good wife, Metella. I must confess, we're not prepared for a..." Caecillius describes his wife and confesses.
"Nothing to worry about. I'm, I'm sure you've nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me." The Doctor says as he points on the Tardis.
"I told you to get rid of it." Metella reminds her husband.
"I only bought it today." Caecilius tells himself.
"Ah, well. Caveat emptor." The Doctor comments in Welsh.
"Oh, you're Celtic. There's lovely." Caecillius tells him.
"I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection." The Doctor says.
"Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government." A servant annouces the vistor of Lucius Dextrus as he is a middle aged man wearing a cloak over the right half of his body enters.
"Lucius. My pleasure, as always." Caecilius comments.
"Quintus, stand up." Metalla orders her son.
"A rare and great honour, sir, for you to come to my house." Caecillius tells Lucius as he holds out his hand, but Lucius does not take it.
"The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west." Lucius proposes.
"Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?" Caecillius inquires.
"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow." Lucius answers him.
"There now, Metella. Have you ever heard such wisdom?" Caecillus asks his wife about the wisdom.
"Never. It's an honour." Metalla agrees.
"Pardon me, sir. I have guests. This is Spartacus, Spartacus and, er, Spartacus." Caecilllus tells Lucius about the Doctor and his two acomplices.
"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind." Lucius explains about the name.
"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark." The Doctor counteracts Lucius.
"Ah. But what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?" Lucius tries to counteract the Doctor.
"I concede that every sun must set." The Doctor concedes him.
"Ha." Lucius laughs.
"And yet the son of the father must also rise." The Doctor says.
"Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning." Lucius says.
"Oh, yes. But don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo." The Doctor tells them.
"He's Celtic." Caecilius notes.
"We'll be off in a minute." The Doctor reminds them.
"I'm not going." Donna refuses the Doctor's command.
"It's ready, sir." Caecilius tells Lucius.
"You've got to." Sophia tells her, Donna was okay with Sophia around... not too intruding.
"Well, I'm not." Donna disagress.
"The moment of revelation. And here it is." Caecilius annouces as the Doctor takes Donna and Sophia to the Tardis, he looks back to see a stone tile carved as a circuit board has just been unveiled. "Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?"
"As the rain pleases the soil." Lucius answers to Caecilius.
"Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?" The Doctor inquires on who designed the circuit board.
"My Lord Lucius was very specific." Caecillius tells the Doctor.
"Where'd you get the pattern?" The Doctor asks on the pattern.
"On the rain and mist and wind." Lucius says about the pattern.
"But that looks like a circuit." Donna says about the pattern being part of a circuit.
"Made of stone." The Doctor tells her.
"Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?" Donna inquires on if the pattern was part of a dream that Lucius thought.
"That is my job, as City Augur." Lucius tells her.
"What's that, then, like the mayor?" Donna asks him.
"Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona." Sophia conjures up a excuse for calling him "mayor".
"No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news." The Doctor explains to Donna about City Augur as Evelina enters the room, swaying and pale.
"They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us." Evelina notes.
"No, no, I'm not. I meant no offence." The Doctor apoligizes for any offence given.
"I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapours." Metella apologizes.
"Oh for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?" Quintus asks what has been done to Evelina.
"Not now, Quintus." Caecillus warns his son.
"Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her." Quintus tells them.
"I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift." Lucius says.
"Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions." Metalla recalls.
"The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception." Lucius complains.
"I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate." Donna comments as a small tremor happens.
"The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you." Lucius tells her.
"Consuming the vapours, you say?" The Doctor asks about the vapours being consumed.
"They give me strength."
"It doesn't look like it to me." The Doctor disagrees.
"Is that your opinion as a doctor?" Evelina inquires about the Doctor's opinion.
"I beg your pardon?" The Doctor asks what she has said.
"Doctor. That's your name." Evelina reveals his name.
"How did you know that?" The Doctor inquires.
"And you. You call yourself Noble." Evelina reveals about Donna.
"Now then, Evelina. Don't be rude." Metella tells her.
"No, no, no, no. Let her talk." The Doctor ignores Mettella.
"You three come from so far away." Evelina tells the Doctor.
"The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries." Lucius says about female soothsayers.
"Oh, not this time, Lucius. No, I reckon you've been out-soothsayed." Sophia tells him otherwise.
"Is that so, woman from Gallifrey?" Lucius asks her.
"What?" The Doctor asks Lucius.
"The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" Lucius asks about the Doctor's home being lost.
"Doctor, what are they doing?" Donna asks the Doctor.
"And you, daughter of London." Lucius tells Donna.
"How does he know that?" Donna inquires.
"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth." Lucius explains about the gift.
"That's impossible." Donna doesn't believe this.
"Doctor, she is returning." Lucius promises.
"Who is? Who's she?" The Doctor inquires.
"Woman from Gallifrey, two will fall from your other team."
"That is a lie." Sophia disagrees.
"And you, daughter of London. There is something on your back."
"What's that mean?" Donna inquires.
"Even the word Doctor is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time." Evelina explains as she faints.
"Evelina!" Metella shouts.
-!-
The Doctor removes the hypocaust grill.
"Different sort of hypocaust?" The Doctor asks.
"Oh, yes. We're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself." Caecilius explains about the grills and compares with the one's in Rome.
"Who thought of that?" The Doctor inquires.
"The soothsayers, after the great earthquake, seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt." Caecilius tells them from the earthquake in 62AD.
"Didn't you think of moving away? Oh no, then again, San Francisco." The Doctor tells him about moving to another place.
"That's a new restaurant in Naples, isn't it?" Caecilius inquires about the name of San Francisco over Naples.
"What's that noise?" The Doctor asks.
"Don't know. Happens all the time. They say the gods of the Underworld are stirring." Caecilius answers.
"But after the earthquake, let me guess. Is that when the soothsayers started making sense?" The Doctor inquires about the soothsayers and the earthquake.
"Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they'd always been, shall we say, imprecise? But then the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspex, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision." Caecilius explains the changes of what happened with everything.
"Haven't they said anything about tomorrow?" The Doctor asks about the 23rd of August.
"No. Why, should they? Why do you ask?" Caecilius inquires to ask.
"No, no. No reason. I'm just asking. But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapours, yeah?" The Doctor asks if they consume the vapours.
"That's how they see." Caecilius agrees.
"Ipso facto." The Doctor comments.
"Look you." Caecilius translates.
"They're all consuming this." The Doctor describes what is it his hand.
"Dust." Caecilius says.
"Tiny particles of rock. They're breathing in Vesuvius." The Doctor describes the air as he goes to where Quintus is reclining on a couch, drinking. "Quintus, me old son. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus. Where does he live?"
"It's nothing to do with me." Quintus disapproves of the Doctor.
"Let me try again. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus." The Doctor asks him again as he produces a coin from behind Quintus' ear. "Where does he live?"
-!-
Night has fallen. Quintus holds a burning torch as he leads the Doctor through Pompeii.
"Don't tell my Dad." Quintus asks to tell him on the Doctor jumps up to a window and opens the shutters.
"Only if you don't tell mine." The Doctor asks him as he goes inside then leans out. "Pass me that torch."
-!-
The hypocaust is glowing red with heat. Quintus enters as the Doctor looks around, then takes down a curtain to reveal a wall of different design marble tiles.
"The liar. He told my father it was the only one." Quintus tells the Doctor.
"Well, plenty of marble merchants in this town. Tell them all the same thing, get all the components from different places, so no one can see what you're building." The Doctor explains what the person behind this is really doing.
"Which is what?" Quintus asks.
"The future, Doctor. We are building the future, as dictated by the gods." Lucius promises to the Doctor and Quintus.
The Doctor is rearranging the circuit boards.
"Put this one there. This one there. Er, keep that one upside down, and what you got?" The Doctor tells them.
"Enlighten me." Lucius comments.
"What, the soothsayer doesn't know?" The Doctor inquires to Lucius.
"The seed may float on the breeze in any direction." Lucius tells the Doctor.
"Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. But it's an energy converter." The Doctor explains.
"An energy converter of what?" Lucius asks about what the energy converter is.
"I don't know. Isn't that brilliant? I love not knowing. Keeps me on my toes. It must be awful being a prophet, waking up every morning, is it raining? Yes, it is, I said so. Takes all the fun out of life. But who designed this, Lucius, hmm? Who gave you these instructions?" The Doctor asks who gave Lucius the instructions.
"I think you've babbled enough." Lucius tells the Doctor about his babbiling.
"Lucius, really, tell me. Honestly, I'm on your side. I can help." The Doctor tells him.
"You insult the gods. There can be only one sentence. At arms." Lucius disaproves as the guards draw their short swords.
"Oh, morituri te salutant." The Doctor tells him in Latin.
"Celtic prayers won't help you now." Lucius says.
"But it was him, sir. He made me do it. Mister Dextrus, please don't." Quintus disagrees with being involved with the Doctor.
"Come on now, Quintus, dignity in death. I respect your victory, Lucius. Shake on it? Come on. Dying man's wish?" The Doctor asks to shake Lucius's hand before he grabs at Lucius' right arm beneath the clock and pulls. There is a breaking sound. The Doctor is holding a stone hand and forearm. "Show me."
Lucius throws back the cloak. His entire right side has calcified.
"The work of the gods." Lucius annouces.
"He's stone." Quintus comments.
"Armless enough, though. Whoops." The Doctor says as he throws the arm back to Lucius. "Quintus!"
Quintus throws the torch at a guard as the Doctor sonics the circuit boards, then they make their escape through the window.
-!-
"Run!" The Doctor shouts. "No sign of them. Nice little bit of allons-y. I think we're all right."
"But his arm, Doctor. Is that what's happening to Evelina?" Quintus inquires what is happening.
Rumble. A dog starts barking.
"What was that?" The Doctor inquires.
Rumble.
"The mountain?" Quintus asks the rumbles are rhythmical.
"No, it's closer." The Doctor corrects him as things start falling over as the ground shakes. "Footsteps."
"It can't be." Quintus disagrees.
"Footsteps underground." The Doctor says.
"What is it? What is it?" Quintus asks what is happening before they run again. The grills blow of hypocaust vents as they pass.
-!-
"What is it? What's that noise?" Metella asks what the noise is.
"Doesn't sound like Vesuvius." Caecilius disagrees with it being Vesuvius.
"Caecilius? All of you, get out." The Doctor asks for Caecilius and his family to get out.
"Doctor, what is it?" Donna inquires on what is happening.
"I think we're being followed." The Doctor says as the hypocaust grill flies off. "Just get out!"
They stand and stare as the floor around the hypocaust cracks, and the stone and fire creature appears. As it stands, it nearly touches the ceiling.
"The gods are with us." Evelina annouces.
"Water. We need water. Quintus. All of you, get water. Donna, Sophia!" The Doctor commands the family to defeat the fire creature as Donna leaves the place.
"Blessed are we to see the gods." The servant, Rombus praises the creature as his god breathes on him, burning him to ash instantly.
"Talk to me. That's all I want. Talk to me. Just tell me you are. Don't hurt these people." The Doctor asks it what it wants. Donna is returning with a bucket of water when the Sisterhood grab her. Evelina sees them. "Talk to me. I'm the Doctor. Just tell me who you are."
Quintus and a slave return with buckets, scoop water from the fish pond and throw it on the creature. Its fire goes out, it solidifies then cracks and crumbles to the floor.
"What was it?" Caecilius asks him.
"Carapace of stone, held together by internal magma. Not too difficult to stop, but I reckon that's just the foot soldier." The Doctor explains.
"Doctor, or whatever your name is, you bring bad luck on this house." Metalla disaproves of the Doctor.
"I thought your son was brilliant. Aren't you going to thank him?" Sophia asks the family.
"Still, if there are aliens at work in Pompeii, it's a good thing we stayed. Donna? Donna? Donna!" The Doctor says to himself as he thanks that they stayed on in Pompeii.
A/N - SORRY FOR SKIPPING ALL OF THIS, I DID HAVE A SAVED DOCUMENT OF THE NEXT COUPLE OF SCENES AFTER THE DOCTOR AGREES ON STAYING IN POMPEII (ABOVE). BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED AND ALL OF THAT WAS DELETED.
SO I SAID, I'LL SKIP IT AND NOTHING ELSE NEEDS TO BE THERE.
-!-
Caecilius and his family are cowering in a corner.
"Gods save us, Doctor." Caecilius says as the Doctor goes to the Tardis.
"No! Doctor, you can't. Doctor!" Donna screeches as the Tardis engines start up and she runs inside.
-!-
"You can't just leave them!" Donna tells him.
"Don't you think I've done enough? History's back in place and everyone dies." The Doctor disagrees.
"You've got to go back. Doctor, Even she is telling you, so... stop being such a old man about it and set it right because it's not fair if you don't." Sophia explains.
"No, it's not." The Doctor agrees.
"But your own planet. It burned." Donna reminds him.
"That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I can't." The Doctor calls her out on that.
"Just someone. Please. Not the whole town. Just save someone." Donna tells him.
"Come on, it's for her... and me." Sophia says to him.
-!-
The Tardis rematerialises.
"Come with me." The Doctor tells the family as they grab onto his hand.
-!-
The seven watch as Pompeii is filled with volcanic ash.
"It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass, men'll move on, and stories will fade. But one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years. And everyone will remember you." The Doctor explains about Pompeii and the future of it.
"What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?" Sophia inquires.
"The visions have gone." Evelina senses nothing.
"The explosion was so powerful it cracked open a rift in time, just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not any more. You're free." The Doctor gives an explaination of the dissaperence of the visions.
"But tell me. Who are you, Doctor? With your words, and your temple containing such size within?" Metella asks who is the Doctor.
"Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone." The Doctor says.
"The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of volcano. All those people." Caecilius tells the family as he uses the words of volcano as the Doctor, Sophia and Donna slip back into the Tardis.
-!-
"Thank you." Donna says.
"Yeah. You were right. Sometimes I need someone. Welcome aboard." The Doctor says.
"Yeah." Donna agrees as she smiles at Sophia.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the lateness on this, it was basically everything else trying to crowd this story.
So, in the mean time... During my break off here, I found some more reviews on both Wrap Around and Beating. So here we go.
Wrap Around Her Hearts
Carpe Diem Vampire:
I'm confused. Is her name Sofia? Eva? Or that other one?
Me:
Sophia. Spelt this way.
Guest:
Man this has seemed more like Rose/Sofia than Doctor/Sofia or all three man giving me some weird vibes. But it was different than all the other season 2 OC stories so I give it a thumbs up.
Me:
Friendship. That's what it is really.
The Beating of Her Hearts
Dimas15:
You're welcome, hope you have a nice day and good luck with everything.
Me:
You too.
Guest:
So you still had the Doctor love Rose, but within the next few episodes he's all over your OC. Some things just don't add up huh.
Me:
Some releationships always never add.
Guest:
You like forgot to insert your OC towards the end there.
Me:
You're right there. Time Crash also had the same thing.
The Imperial Phantom Menace - January 21st, 2016.
