"What?" I stared at him in shock. "How do you know?"
"I felt it!" The Doctor all but screamed, still holding his hands over his heart. "I can tie myself to humans and I felt the thread snap! She is…" He trailed off, his blue eyes made brighter by the sudden appearance of tears. The Doctor shook his head violently, turning on the spot and running down the aisles of his treasure room, morphing back into his dragon form as he went.
"Doctor!" I yelled at his retreating form. "Come back!" I saw the tip of his tail disappear around the corner and sighed, biting my lip. I should probably go after him…he was obviously upset and even though I'm useless at comforting people, I still felt like I should give it a shot.
I could hear him crashing around somewhere, the echoes amplified by the stone of the cathedral. A particularly thunderous noise made me jump and I shook myself into motion, running down the same route the Doctor had taken. He'd managed to knock over just about everything in his path, and I had to climb over various priceless artifacts and other bric-a-brac. I hopped over a spilled collection of medieval swords cautiously, working my way around the corner I'd seen the Doctor take.
The turn led into a short tunnel, which in turn split off into three different branches. I hesitated, wondering which one to take. I couldn't hear the Doctor anymore, and I felt nervous about using my magic in a deity's lair. I bit my lip again, thinking as I paced around. Something crunched under my foot and I paused, looking down. It was a scale, now cracked down the middle. Oops. There was another one just beyond it, leading into the left-most tunnel, which had a smear of blood on its sidewall.
The Doctor had hurt himself running away, and I was surprised by just how much that concerned me. I really had to find him now, before did anything worse. I picked up the unbroken scale and slipped it into my pocket as I ventured into the tunnel, vaguely comforted by it. The tunnel was pitch black and I fumbled around ineptly in the darkness, trying my hardest not to trip over my own feet.
I didn't, because I tripped over something else instead. "Ouch," I mumbled from my new position on the floor, rubbing at my skinned hands. I poked at the thing that had hit me in the shins experimentally. It was hard, with a wooden texture. "Probably a treasure chest or something," I muttered as I stood up. Not the Doctor, then.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and I groaned inwardly at the cliché. Didn't keep me from going towards it, though. The tunnel led off into a small room, dominated by a large, ornate canopy bed. The drapes were pulled tight, but the bottom half was absolutely shredded. More scales littered the foot of the bed.
"Doctor?" I said softly, moving towards the bed. There was a quiet sniffle, but otherwise no response. "Can I come in?"
There was a long silence. I was just about to ask again when one of the curtains twitched, opening a narrow gap. The Doctor was sitting in the middle of the bed, in his human form, knees hugged to his chest and his head bowed. I crawled onto the bed, pulling the curtain shut behind me, and sat next to him in the darkness.
"I'm sorry," was all I could think to say. "I know you guys were friends."
"I should never have taken Samantha to the NeverNever," the Doctor said mournfully. "I should never have associated with her. I am dangerous. The people I befriend always end up hurt because of me. Why don't I ever learn?"
"Hey," I said, alarmed by the ferocity of your voice. "It's not your fault, okay? It's this Sabbath guy. He's the one running around killing teenage girls. And we're going to catch him. I promise." I had gotten way too personally invested in this business, but at this point I was past caring. There was someone out there killing kids. That didn't sit right with me. And he'd hurt the Doctor too. That made me almost as mad.
I saw the Doctor shaking his head in the dim light. "No. You need to stay away. I want you safe."
"I'm not leaving you to figure this out by yourself!" I said loudly, surprising myself with how much I cared. About him. "Sorry, didn't mean to shout. But I'm not backing out now, okay? I'm staying, whether you like it or not." In all seriousness, if the Doctor really didn't want me around, he could easily keep me out of the way, but I preferred not to think about that.
The Doctor glanced at me, eyes glowing and expression unreadable. There were tear tracks all over his face. "Very well," he said finally. I sighed in relief, then frowned, because, really, why was I relieved to continue hanging out with a Dragon and investigate a murder? What was wrong with me?
The Doctor leaned against me suddenly, jerking me out of my thoughts. "Thank you," he said quietly, resting his head on my shoulder. I swallowed, suddenly glad for the darkness that covered up my red face. I slid an arm around the Doctor's shoulders awkwardly in a feeble attempt at comfort.
"Yeah. We'll find him. We'll get Sabbath."