Suraal passed the nurse on his way to check on his other patient...well the body attached to the machine. He stopped a small frown crossed his face. Did that nurse look different to the last time he saw her?
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders; he really needed to get some sleep. He walked into the small room and stopped. Was it tiredness playing tricks on him or had the body attached to the machine moved?
I really need to get some sleep, dead people don't move. He checked the readouts, still the same. He gave the body attached to the machine a cursory inspection. He pulled one eyelid back and shook his head sadly...still no spark of life.
This person, the one they called the Doctor was dead, along with the evil that had possessed him.
The Darkness's army was in disarray and planets that had fallen to it were being regained. There was even talk of trying to capture the flagship and using it to force their way back into their own universe.
Suraal wished it would be that easy, he would love to see his home world restored and renewed. He would do anything to rescue his family from the mines; if they had survived.
He went to tap the results into his keyboard when it came to him in an awful flash...the nurse, her eyes...they were black!
Jack wandered down the leaf strewn road, the golden browns and deep reds of autumn lay scattered. There was a nip in the air and he shivered slightly, wishing he'd brought a coat.
Still, it wasn't far and he would be there in a few minutes and they would be waiting. It had been a long wait, waiting for the news. When it had come he'd been overwhelmed with happiness and sadness in equal measure.
He was coming and this time he would never leave.
Martha heard what sounded like people shouting, but she wasn't sure as her head was fogged with whatever sedative they had given her. She tried to move but pain shot through her legs and the vague memory of someone saying her legs were broken came to mind.
Her thoughts were broken by the doors being opened and a nurse stepped through. She shook her head to try and clear the last effects of the sedative.
"What's going on?" she asked the nurse in a slightly slurred voice.
The nurse didn't reply and seemed to be ignoring her.
"Hello, did you hear me?" Martha said again, louder and less slurred in tone.
The nurse stopped what she was doing and turned towards Martha. "Nothing that will be of concern to you," she replied.
Martha frowned. "What are you doing?"
She tried to sit up but the casts on her legs made it impossible .She froze when the nurse looked directly at her with eyes that were blacker than the void.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Martha Jones. It's a shame I had to remove myself from my former host. Still, no matter, it won't stop me getting the information I want. Now hold still and it this will be almost painless," the nurse said as she advanced on Martha, black eyes glittering with unfathomable menace.
The nurse smiled coldly as she took her hands away from Martha's head. "Thank you, Martha Jones. Now I have to return to a more robust host and find my way to this place called the Medusa Cascade."
Martha let out a sob, she'd betrayed the Doctor. The Darkness had been too strong and she couldn't resist...that thing was going to find whatever it wanted.
She could do nothing as the nurse left the room, she could do nothing but cry.
Jack shivered as the breeze picked up and turned into a gust of wind. The leaves scattered and whirled around him a crazy dance. He could see the house in the distance and quickened his pace.
He stopped when a voice came from behind him.
"Where are you going Jack?"
Jack whirled in surprise. "How did you get here, you were supposed to arrive till this afternoon?"
The figure he was speaking to gave him an all too familiar look, the one that said 'keep up'.
"Answer me a question Jack, why were you going to that?" The figure nodded towards the house that sat at the end of the road.
Jack frowned and then smiled, he was teasing him...okay he'd play the game.
"I, no we, I mean Ianto, Gwen, everybody we're waiting for you."
"And why is that?"
Now Jack's smile turned from one of amusement to a soft smile of affection. "You were coming home. You were going to leave it all behind, you were staying."
The look the figure gave him was one of sadness mixed with...was that longing? "Jack, why would I give it up, the travelling, the adventure, why?"
Jack shivered, not because a cold blast of wind cut through him, it was because of the tone of voice the figure used.
The figure walked forward and stopped just short of Jack. "This isn't real Jack, this is all inside your head. You need to wake up. I need you to wake up."
The figure reached out and touched Jack on the shoulder.
Jack backed away, a look of discomfort on his face. "Enough, this isn't funny anymore," he said to the figure.
The figure smiled that sad smile that meant only one thing to Jack. "Jack, look around you, this isn't real. I need to you to wake up. It's coming back for me Jack...please."
A strong gust of wind blew across the leaf strewn path and Jack could do nothing but stare as the figure as it faded and the world around him began to fall to pieces.
The nurse walked back into the room that held the machine and crossed over to the still lifeless body. She leant over the body's face and spoke quietly.
"You tricked me into believing you were dead. That will not happen again, I know your secret now. Martha Jones was quite forthcoming. I will take your mind and body back and I know where that wonderful time machine of yours is. I will find the one called Davros and I will gain a new army, one that does not cower when its leader is lost."
The machine began beeping wildly as an oily trail forced its way out of the nurse, who slumped boneless and lifeless to the floor.
The oil slid its way back up the body of its former host, forcing itself through the nostrils of its host.
The machine went into overdrive as the eyes of the body attached to it shot open. With a snarl the body sat up and with eyes glittering obsidian black and a feral snarl it ripped the wires from itself.
The Darkness stepped over the body of the nurse and over to a small mirror. It looked at its hosts' reflection and smiled...the Time Lord was once again his.