The Doctor's eyes widened at the response he received in his mind. He hadn't realised that he could communicate in such a way with the dragon – but it seemed so obvious now. He was just about to start walking towards the dragon when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Jack standing behind him.
"Doctor, be careful." Jack warned, as the Doctor broke free from his grip. He remained stationary, just looking at the Timelord with a concerned look. Something had caught the Doctor's attention…something small and shiny lying upon the rock sticking out of the wall above the dragon. It rose its head to look at the object as well as the Doctor approached, and cautiously reached out for it. The metal scraped against the stone as he pulled the string for it to fall into his palm. A sad yet curious tone reverberated from within the dragon's chest as the Doctor stared at what he held.
"Doctor…what is it?"
In a sweeping motion, the Doctor turned around and looked up at Jack incredulously. Slowly, he lifted the object up into the air by the string it was attached to for him to see.
"A Tardis key. The dragon has a key to the Tardis."
"….What?" was all Jack could think to say. The Doctor returned to throw himself in Jack's arms for support. Still stunned from the key revelation, Jack staggered a bit at the sudden impact but still lovingly wrapped his arms around the Timelord.
"Jack… how? How could it have this? I haven't seen this creature before in my life, so that must mean that I'm forgetting some large portion of my memory. That scares me, Jack. It really does."
There was silence for a moment while Jack just rubbed the Doctor's back. It was rare that the Doctor behaved in this way, so Jack didn't want to put him off sharing his feelings. But he could understand – the one thing the Doctor valued the most was his mind, and it must be shattering to his security to learn that it had been tampered with without his knowledge.
"Doc, you travel in time – what if you meet this thing in the future?"
There was a shaking of his head whilst buried in Jack's chest in response. He regained his composure and stood backwards.
"No. I can feel that this key is old. It's a Timelord thing, I don't expect you to understand."
"Ok. Then what now?"
The Doctor thought for a moment, looking about. Draegr and Galdir had no idea what was going on, but didn't seem to mind. He looked at his Tardis, resting upon the pedestal. She spoke to him, in his mind, and then he knew what to do. He had to get the Orb that the dragon was after. He took a few steps closer to the dragon again, and pointed to the Tardis.
Take me to my Tardis. I will find the Orb. He spoke in his mind to the dragon. It didn't seem to understand on that level, but was able to work out that the Doctor wanted what he was pointing at: the blue box.
Within a flash, the dragon had lept into the air, and grabbed the Doctor. Jack screamed, but it was too late. It wasn't a moment later before the dragon set the Doctor gently upon the stone precipice next to the Tardis, and landed beside it. The doors opened and the Doctor happily strode in. The dragon tried to follow, but the door was shut before it could try fitting inside. The Tardis began to disappear, with the characteristic noise reverberating throughout the cavern. Once the dragon realised it was fading away, it began to yell worriedly and try to grab the box – to no avail. When it was gone, it sat upon the stone and gave a loud mourning cry out into the darkness. It still sounded like a dragon, Jack decided, but it was the most beautiful sound – the perfect tones were so sorrowful, Jack even began to well up and shed tears along with it.
For what seemed like an eternity, filled with the sad song of the dragon, the Tardis was gone. Then when Jack felt he couldn't take any more before he broke down from the cry, the Tardis began to materialise at the base of the rock tower. The screeching pierced the silence, and broke apart the mournful tune of the dragon. The blue box landed, and the Doctor stepped out. He was almost crushed by the dragon, which had dropped to the ground faster than gravity would allow. There was a rumble of the rocks, and a soft crackling, but the cave remained intact. The dragon hummed happily, its song changing to relief and joy. Jack felt overwhelmed with happiness now – he couldn't remember why he was sad. That ability of the dragon's is powerful, Jack thought to himself as he ran to the Doctor. They embraced in a brief hug before the Doctor turned to the dragon.
"I always wondered why I had this. Who it belonged to. I have many…hidden away within the depths of the Tardis…but I forgot about them. I think this one belongs to you." The Doctor spoke, as he handed a bright shining white-blue orb to the dragon. Upon grabbing it, the orb exploded into light that engulfed the dragon, who closed its eyes and allowed to be overtaken. Jack took the Doctor by the hand while they watched.
"What is it?"
"Those orbs hold different things of people. This one, I believe, held the soul and mind of this dragon."
Before Jack could ask one of the more questions the doctor's answer evoked, the transformation was complete and the light faded – absorbed by the dragon. It looked down upon them, and smiled. A real smile. As the Doctor looked, he saw a new-found intelligence within the face of the creature.
"Doctor." It spoke happily, a clear wise voice emanating from its mouth. "I knew you would find me again." It stepped forward and embraced the Doctor in a somewhat awkward hug. It looked at the Doctor, pausing as if waiting for a response, and then its features dropped. It shifted its gaze between the Doctor and Jack, and noticed their holding hands. It sat down, disheartened.
"You don't remember, do you?" It said glumly, and looked at the ground.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked, receiving yet another slight wince of pain from the dragon.
"I am Wedge…or at least that's what you know me as. Or knew, rather. I wish I could tell you more, I really do. But I can't. Maybe one day you'll know why. And when that day comes, I can reveal all to you – but until then, you cannot know. I'm so sorry."
The dragon, Wedge, nuzzled the Doctor gently, tears in its eyes.
"I have missed you dearly, my love."
The Doctor remained still, utterly confused. Jack became indignant to the last comment, and snorted.
"If I knew you…why can't I remember? Why do you have a Tardis Key?"
"I had to take myself out of your memories. Not unlike you have done before – but a little differently. There wasn't any choice… I had to. I'm so sorry. I really am. But there was no alternative. As for the key – you gave me that, long ago. I somehow managed to keep it with me. Not that I really needed it I suppose, since she'd let me in anyway – but it was a memento of a past I had been removed from."
Jack wanted in on the conversation. "So…why were you in the ball, and in the cave?"
The dragon looked at him for a moment, and gave him a look of condescension.
"I sacrificed myself to save him. I died – but I was able to use one last ability my species has just in time. My mind and soul were taken away, and trapped in the Orb. The energy of my body disappeared and travelled across the stars and fell here where they reformed. But I was just a primitive body. The real me was in there – waiting for the day when the Doctor would remember or find me. But he found me too early. Or late."
Jack could definitely pick up an annoyed tone present in the dragon's voice – for some reason, it didn't like him very much. It was definitely spitting the information at him as if he were a child. Well, maybe he was in its eyes he thought.
While the Doctor processed this information, the dragon sorrowfully walked over to the Tardis. It gave another sad tone as it stroked the outside.
"Goodbye old friend. Until we meet again." It uttered quietly, and nuzzled the outside of the blue box. It returned towards the doctor. Before it could do the same to him, Draegr cut in.
"Hey! You have a lot to answer for! The villagers you have killed…their families deserve retribution!" He shouted, still afraid of what was going on. Snapping its attention to the stout man, it bore its teeth.
"I killed no one! They are in the other villages. I couldn't tell which human came from where – so when I found them lost and cold in the forest I tried to put them back. I'm sorry if I got the wrong villages. I did try to tell you that they were safe – I brought them their snow clothing, to show you that they were safe and no longer needed them. You took that to mean I killed them?"
Finished with Draegr and Galdir, it returned its attention to the Doctor.
"I have to go. I don't belong here. I'll find you again one day, I promise. I won't abandon you again. Never again. I wish I could ask you not to forget me, but you already have. As much as it hurts, I know I must move on. Goodbye, my love, my dearest..."
The dragon said the last word of that sentence in the Doctor's mind. His eyes widened in shock, and he looked at the creature again…but differently this time. He placed his hand on its forhead, feeling the extremely smooth diamond-like scales slide against his skin. He wasn't sure why, but he was feeling immensely sad to see it go. It was like his hearts were weeping to say goodbye, while his mind was still confused because there was a huge section of his past he wasn't allowed to know. He gently kissed it on the nose, unsure entirely as to why. Then from deep within him, a single word came up and he spoke it in his mind to the dragon. It smiled, sorrowfully, and stood up straight.
It opened its great wings, and took off into the air – bright white light forming around it. Before the wings beat again, it had faded away. The Doctor stood there, staring at where the dragon had disappeared, overwhelmed with a confusing feeling of loss. Jack stepped closer, and grabbed his hand again. The Doctor smiled, and rested his head upon Jack's strong shoulder.
"I think it's time we left." He spoke to the man resting upon him.
"Yeah." The Doctor spoke. He straightened up, and smiled again to Jack. "Time we moved on."
They turned around, and said their goodbyes to Draegr and Galdir. Drae' promised to find the lost villagers and get them safely home – including his little daughter that had been taken the first night. With a departing hug, the pair returned to the Tardis and shut the door, departing. Time for this adventure to end, and another begin. After all, the Doctor happily thought as he clung to the controls, there was much to discover now.