Note: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood. Madison Toya is all mine however.
"Right! Here we are!" The Doctor was putting on his coat.
"And where exactly is here?" Madison asked him, still standing by the console with Jack. Jack looked at her. Over the past few weeks he had seen the woman he knew from Earth return. The confident, excited, loud mouthed woman. It made him smile, things were finally getting better.
"Ipsaican, lovely place. Roughly the year 8024." He was standing by the doors now, waiting. "Come on then, let's go have a look!" There was a mad grin on his face.
Madison looked at Jack, he rolled his eyes. The Doctor never got bored of doing this, every landing he got excited and jumped around like a little kid. Madison, however, had an uneasy feeling this time. As soon as they had landed she began to feel a little awkward, hesitant. She didn't actually want to go out there, she wanted to stay safe in the TARDIS. But as her relationship with the Doctor had grown she felt like that would be letting him down.
The Doctor was the first out the door, taking in a deep breath. Jack was close behind him while Madison trailed behind being more cautious than the others.
She looked around her, it looked like they had landed in a castle. The walls and floor were all made of stone and there were tapestries hanging on the walls. All around them were women in hooded cloaks, all various different shades of pink. They all seemed to be working, carrying different things around and some of them were struggling. A woman in a very vibrant pink cloak approached the trio.
"What is your business here?" She asked them in a rather unpleasant tone.
"Oh nothing, we're just passing through." The Doctor replied, his eyes constantly watching everything going on around him.
"I am Madam Paktisha, and this is my section." She continued to glare at the Doctor. His eyes finally met hers.
"Madam Paktisha! I'm the Doctor, this is Madison and Jack. Now tell me, what's going on? Because this isn't right." He had noticed that all the women were taking orders from armed soldiers. They were wearing full battle gear.
"You had best come with me, it is not safe for your lady friend to be out here where the guards can see her. Please follow me." The trio looked at each other and followed Madam Paktisha. They entered a room where the floor was covered with what looked like beds. Blankets covered every square inch, all neatly placed.
"This is our home, this is where we sleep. All the women in this section are under my protection and care." The Doctor looked at her. Protection and care? He was confused.
"Sorry, Madam Paktisha, but from what I remember the women didn't need protection and care. So you give them protection and care from what exactly?" She looked at him, slightly stunned.
"Many years ago Ipsaican was watched over by a wonderful queen. She made sure everyone was happy and that no one went hungry. Everyone was equal. Everyone loved and adored her. Unfortunately there were some who did not feel that way. Her younger brother was jealous. He wanted to be king. He had gathered many followers, most of them being the men of Ipsaican. One night the queen simply disappeared. Then Lord Kalzana declared himself king and ruler. All those who objected were either killer or became slaves. The men were given the opportunity to join him, saying it was time for men to retake their place at the leaders of this land. Many of them joined him, those are the guards you have seen when you arrived. It has been long feared that he has some kind of control over them. There are men who turned on their families to serve the Lord. The women are all his slaves. They do as much work as he requires. The woman cook, clean and sew. They do everything he does not let men do. The men have only one job, 'keep the women in line'."
The Doctor frowned. He found this to be unacceptable. "Right well, why don't we go and have a word with this Lord Kalzana. No one should be forced to live like this. Madam Paktisha, we will help you." She smiled at him, finally they may have found salvation.
"You will need to be careful of the guards. If they see you then they are likely to shoot first and ask questions later. And you must protect her." She said to the Doctor, pointing towards Madison. He looked over at her, in a place where women were slaves, of course he was going to protect her. Even more so then if they weren't.
"We will be careful, and she will be protected. I give you my word." He looked at Madison, and gave her a smile. She forced herself to smile back.
"I will show you a safe way, but you must still be cautious. The guards really are everywhere." They followed her down some stone corridors. "This is the safest was to get to the Lord. Do not rush, and thank you. I hope to see you again soon." Madam Paktisha bowed to the group and left.
"Looks like we are off to see the Lord then. Now remember to be quiet and Madison, you are to stay behind either me or Jack all the time understood?" He looked at her, his face was serious.
"Ok." She replied. She really had a bad feeling about everything. Something bad was going to happen, she could feel it.
"What are you going to do when we reach this lord then Doctor?" Jack asked him.
"Oh you know me, try to reason with him. From what Madam Paktisha said he has used some kind of psychic ability to control people. I'm going to talk to him, make him see sense." He was talking quietly as they looked at the door in front of them.
"And what if he doesn't want to listen to you Doctor?" Jack had a feeling that this lord wouldn't listen to anyone. He hoped the Doctor had a better plan then just having a chat.
The Doctor pulled the door open. "I will just have to make him listen."
It felt like they had been walking for hours along the dark, damp stone corridor. There was water dripping along the sides and there was the occasional squeal as they disturbed a rat or 2.
"Reminds me of being in the sewers back in Cardiff. At lest this place isn't crawling with Weevils." Jack said. The Doctor hushed him.
There was light up ahead, and faint voices.
The Doctor took the lead, taking it slow and trying his best to not make a sound. As they got closer the Doctor could see they were coming to the end of the corridor. He turned around to make sure the others were still with him, they were there. He put his finger to his lips, then turned around and continued to walk forward. Madison had kept her gaze on the ground the whole time they had been walking, something had been bothering her the moment they landed.
They reached the end of the long, damp and dark corridor and came to what appeared to be a door. The light was filtering through the slits and cracks in the wood. The Doctor felt around for a handle, he eventually found one. He closed his eyes and preyed that it would open, and open quietly. The door pulled inwards. He slowly poked his head out and looked around. The bright corridor that the door led onto was empty. He signalled for the others to come out.
"Well that wasn't too bad." The Doctor stated, dusting down his long brown coat. "Now, which way do you think we should go?" He asked.
"The way the guards aren't coming from!" Jack said as he pointed out a large group of armed men charging towards them. The Doctor turned and grabbed Madison's hand.
"RUN!"
It was happening again, everything was spinning. Only this time she could hear voices. She could hear someone telling her to run, run as fast as she could, and not to stop until she could no longer breath. Then there was another voice, it was her own.
"Madison, everything is going to change. It's time to remember. If you don't remember then everyone will die. You have to remember…"
The Doctor was pulling Madison along, corridor after corridor. Jack was behind them, trying to keep the guards from getting to them. He was knocking things over, trying to block their path but they just kept on charging. He had managed to get a few men down so the group wasn't as large as it had been. There were still too many of them to deal with. They needed to get out of sight and away from them.
"I don't want to remember!" Madison cried.
The Doctor stopped and looked at her. Her eyes were glazed over. This was not the best of times for her to have a dizzy spell. The Doctor thought she had overcome them, as she hadn't had one in such a long time. Things were going from bad to worse as more guards appeared ahead of them. Jack came around the corner, still trying to fend off the other group of guards.
"Madison snap out of it!" The Doctor yelled. "Madison! Wake up!" She fell to the floor, the Doctor had let her go. He needed to think, he needed to work out a way to get out of this mess. They were trapped.
"Hands up where we can see them!" One of the guards yelled. They did as they were told.
Jack looked over to the Doctor and nodded. Jack had a plan. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and it emitted a piercing shrilling sound. Most of the guards dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, holding onto their heads, trying to block out the noise.
Madison was starting to come to, she was pushing herself off the ground when she saw one of the guards reach for his gun. He was still in pain with the noise that was surrounding them, but he was damned if he was going to let that stop him from doing his job. He raised his hand, finger on trigger. Madison knew who he was going to shoot, she got to her feet quickly and darted over to the Doctor. The gun was fired. She pushed him aside just in time and the bullet missed him.
That was what made Jack turn, he started shooting back, starting with the guard who had fired at the Doctor. He had finished setting the gun for stun, he knew the Doctor didn't approve of killing anyone, or weapons in general. Soon enough all the guards were out cold.
The Doctor looked over at Madison, she standing, leaning against the wall, her face pale. What she done was stupid but he was grateful. But then he noticed, something red was dripping from her hands, she was clutching at her side.
"No, no no no no!" The Doctor cried. Jack came rushing over and caught Madison just as she was about to hit the stone floor.
"Madison, Madison now look at me. No come on look at me!" Slowly she opened her eyes. "Madison, now that was a very silly thing to do wasn't it. I told you, I told you to say behind either me or Jack at all times. What were you thinking!" The tone of his voice kept changing, one moment he was angry with her, the next he was using his soft, calm voice.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I saw him, and he was going to shoot at you. I didn't know what else to do, it was just instinct taking over. Sorry. What would the universe be like without the Doctor to watch over it?"
The Doctor looked at her, she had done that to protect him. All this time he thought she didn't care but she did. But it was too late now, she had been shot and was loosing a lot of blood.
"Hey, it's ok. Look, you are going to be fine. Just need to get you back to the TARDIS and everything will be fine. Just hang on ok, you're not going to die, it will all be ok." There was panic in his voice now and even he didn't believe what he was saying so how could he expect her to believe it.
Jack wasn't saying a word, he was just looking down at her, wishing that it had been him that was shot. He would have been ok, he would have died, but he wouldn't stay dead. He should have noticed, he should have paid more attention to what was going on around him.
Jack picked Madison up in his arms, he was in shock, as was the Doctor. He could see the colour draining from her face more and more as the blood was soaking through her clothes. Soon she would be gone, and there was nothing neither he nor the Doctor could do about it. He looked at the Doctor and saw that he was fighting back the tears.
They were heading back the same way they had come, the Doctor closed the wooden door behind them. Neither of them said a word. Only Madison spoke. "I'm sorry Doctor. At least now you don't have to worry about my memories." He didn't reply and her eyes closed.
They soon reached the end and Madam Paktisha was waiting for them. "Words spread quickly through these walls. You must hurry, the Lord will know you are here by now. Leave while you still have the chance. Do you wish to end up like your friend here?" She said and pointed to Madison. The Doctor just stared at her. "I told you to protect her, but you failed at that, Doctor. Now destruction will befall us all." The Doctor did not reply to her, he simple lead Jack back to the TARDIS.
He opened the door and let Jack step inside first, Madison lifeless in his arms. He placed her gently on the floor.
"I'm so sorry." He said to her softly. "But I promise, I will not let this go." He turned and walked out of the TARDIS. Jack kneeled down beside her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I'm going to miss those amazing green eyes of yours." Then he stood up and walked out the TARDIS doors, pulling it closed behind him without looking back.