Here we are. The end of A Good Man Goes To War. I am actually REALLY nervous about this, and the reaction to this chapter. But I hope they are all positive, and this is the way I wanted the chapter to end, and it seemed right.
So, without further ado: A Good Man Goes To War...
Leave a review?
Heather x
Miracles Out Of Nowhere
Chapter 29
Susan and the Doctor made their way back to the control room. Susan had wanted to stay, to settle in the baby to the TARDIS and to shut the TARDIS up, but he wouldn't hear of it. He was being remarkably protective. She understood why- he could've lost everything today. But they had won. Dorium was still at the control booth, the screen above it flashing with code and information.
Susan walked straight up to Dorium, looking at the information. Graphs, charts, waves all littered the blue screens and Susan couldn't make head nor tail of it.
"You've hacked into their software, then?" Susan asked. The Doctor clapping the blue man on the back as the trader worked his magic.
"I believe I sold it to them." Dorium responded.
"Ooo. So what have we learned?" The Doctor asked, quickly, looking at the screens.
"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake." Vastra spoke from her corner, and Susan let out a low breath. She'd been hoping to escape this, to perhaps have a private work with her grandfather on his misdeeds today. She had not liked his behaviour as much as the Silurian, and she knew the quote was intended towards him. The Doctor turned.
"I'm sorry?"
"The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers." Vastra explained as the Doctor stepped towards her and around her, so Vastra had her back to Susan now, who had not moved, but watched.
"Well, you were very cross at the time." The Doctor played it off.
"So were you, today, Grandfather." Susan said, softly, walking over to be by Vastra's side as her Grandfather looked at her, brow furrowing slightly. Vastra looked between them but cleared her throat. The Doctor put his lips together and turned around, hurt at his granddaughter's words. He felt betrayed somehow. Susan wanted to say more but Vastra continued her point.
"Point taken, I hope. Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"
The reaction was instantaneous, Susan whipping her head from towards the Doctor to Vastra, mouth dropping open and brow furrowing. The Doctor turned around, his expression also one of confusion as they both stared at the Silurian.
"Sorry?" Susan let out, the same time as the Doctor spoke.
"What? Of course she is. Completely human. What are you talking about?" The Doctor asked, laughing at the very assumption that she was never anything but. Susan looked at her grandfather and back at the Silurian, who seemed deadly serious. Susan incredulous look slipped into a worried expression.
"They've been scanning her since she was born, and I think they found what they were looking for." Susan and the Doctor both looked to the screen. Susan walked over, followed by her Grandfather as it showed Melody's DNA signature, the double helix easy to read.
"Yeah, human DNA." Susan stated, not getting what she was supposed to be looking at. Vastra came up behind the two Timelords.
"Look closer. Human plus."
"What?" Susan peered at the screen and then she saw it, her eyes widening at she looked upon the impossible. "Oh God…"
"Specifically, human plus Time Lord." Vastra stated. The Doctor strode away to the entrance of the corridor, brushing back his hair as he tried to battle with the ridiculousness of the proposal. Susan just stared at the strings. Finally, the Doctor whirled around to face Vastra.
"But she's human. She's Amy and Rory's daughter." He protested, refusing to believe the fact. It wasn't possible!
"You've told me about your people." Vastra attempted to rationalise the situation, Dorium and Susan both watching as the Doctor listen, one hand on his hips as he looked at them, grinning and pointing at Vastra as though she was being adorably stupid. Susan couldn't doubt the results though, so only gave a grim look back. The Doctor was in denial but Vastra was right. However it had happened, Melody had a strand of Time Lord DNA. "They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The Untempered Schism."
"Over billions of years. It didn't just happen." Susan added, with a sigh. The Doctor turned away, pacing near the corridor before leaning against a wall.
"So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?" Vastra followed up, urgently.
"No, no. I don't think so." He said, face crumpled as he shook his head, facing them again, fidgeting because he was unsure, and Vastra picked up on this.
"You don't sound so sure."
"Because I don't understand how this happened." He looked over to Susan, hoping to get a bit of back up from her but she could do nothing, so decided to stay quiet. She was still trying to wrap her mind about the whole thing. It shouldn't be possible.
"Which leads me to ask when did it happen?" Vastra asked the pacing Doctor.
"When?" Susan let out a sigh, at her own grandfather's obliviousness. Vastra seemed to be struggling and impatient.
"I am trying to be delicate. I know how you can blush. When did this baby begin?" The Doctor's reaction was instantaneous as he changed his stance, and his expression dropped as he blushed.
"Oh, you mean-"
"Quite." Vastra responded and the Doctor couldn't seem to keep still as the implications washed over him. He adjusted his bow tie, nervously and embarrassed.
"Well, how would I know? That's all human-y, private stuff. It just sort of goes on. They don't put up a balloon, or anything!" He said, striding away and down the corridor, not wanting to partake in the conversation that they had to have.
"But could the child have begun on the Tardis in flight, in the vortex." Vastra followed him, not impressed with the Timelord's actions. Susan watched it all. She couldn't answer the Silurian's questions. The Doctor turned back at her question and took a big breath, rambling through his own logic.
"No! No! Impossible! It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then I had to reboot the whole universe. Long story. So, technically the first time they were on the Tardis together in this version of reality, was on their w-"
"On their what?" Susan asked, speaking up as the Doctor came to his own horrific conclusion. His eyes met hers as he gulped.
"On their wedding night." He replied and Susan visibly sagged. Oh no. Oh, her grandfather was so stupid.
"So, it's possible." Susan breathed, looking at her grandfather, who she knew was more clever than she was on these things- she'd had been barely out of the Academy. He had to have some idea if it was possible. But the Doctor looked just as confused, and even more flustered than Susan. "It's like Alex- just like Alex."
"Alex had you for a mother." The Doctor pointed out, running a hand through his hair.
"Yes, but he was still part Time Lord, part Human. The DNA doesn't automatically reject each other so what we are seeing- is possible!" Susan argued back, voice rising as she tried to get through to him.
"It doesn't make sense. You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord." The Doctor protested, head down, hand outstretched as he tried furiously to work it all out. It couldn't be possible- it's shouldn't be possible. Susan moved to the control panel, looking at the DNA signature as Vastra spoke up and Dorium moved away.
"Of course not. But you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working very hard ever since." She said, glancing between Timelords.
"And yet they gave in so easily. Does this not that bother anyone else?" Dorium queried by Vastra's side, but no one really took notice.
"Amy. She worried the baby would have a time head. She said that…" He struggled to find words and Susan watched him again as he paced.
"Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother." Vastra commented and Susan clenched her jaw. She could see the Silurians tone was not helping matters.
"Or the instincts of a coward. This is too easy. There's something wrong." Dorium stressed once more. But Susan had a question.
"But why do it? Get your hands on a new Timelord, what for?" Susan asked, walked over to her grandfather and placing an arm around his waist, hugging him closer as he wrestled with his own thoughts.
"A weapon?" Vastra suggested and Susan narrowed her eyes.
"Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?" The Doctor asked, hotly and Susan wiped her face, releasing her hold on her grandfather. She couldn't take this. It was an insult to her species and she didn't want to be here, or to take this. Why couldn't they just leave yet? Get Melody settled in the TARDIS, get things okay. Susan caught Vastra's expression and frowned as the Silurian looked almost hesitant.
"Well, they've seen you." Madame Vastra admitted to the Doctor, exchanging a look with Dorium. The Doctor blinked and Susan shut her eyes, letting out a sigh. She had been through many emotions since Amy had been taken. Sadness, hope, elation, doubt. One remained. Anger. Boiling anger. It was triggered by her grandfather, whose own anger crumbled in the face of the statement.
"Me?" He questioned, sounding small and sorrowful. The Doctor fumbled backwards, sitting down, his thoughts rampant and clouded and confused. A weapon? All this, they had taken Melody Pond because he was viewed…as a weapon?
"Both of you." Madame Vastra clarified, a little more hesitant, and full of pity, but the lizard woman had no time to waste on such an emotion. Susan clenched her jaw, and moved from her corner of the room, letting her folded arms slip from their position as she stepped towards her grandfather. He was still staring into space. Susan had been called a weapon before, a long time ago. She'd been called worse and more so the Silurian's words didn't bother her, instead she was struck up with concern for her grandfather. She cleared her throat.
"Dorium, you're right. This was too easy. You two should get back to the others." Susan ordered, voice curt, leaving no trace of hurt. They both nodded, wary and then left, leaving the Doctor and his granddaughter alone.
"Me?" The Doctor whispered once again, mind racing. Susan blinked, slowly, before turning and facing her grandfather, kneeling in front of him, and looking so old now.
"No. Not you. Never you. You are not the weapon here." She soothed, taking his hands and he gave her a light, forlorn and sorrowful smile at his brave granddaughter. He was glad he had her back, and never more glad than then. Without her, it would have made things a lot worse. She knew him, more than the Ponds ever could. She was his granddaughter. Simple as. And that spoke volumes.
"I see you accessed our files. Do you understand yet?" The voice made them both turn, th Doctor getting to his feet, and look at the screen to see Madam Kovarian and Susan stood up fully, on edge. "Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away. But I like to keep tabs on you both. The child, then. What do you think?"
The Doctor took a moment to reply, looking down as he fought hard to keep the anger from seeping into his voice, to keep his composure steadfast.
"What is she?" He asked, bitterly, looking up at the woman, who seemed to revel in her answer. Susan saw it, dancing in the lone eye she had on show. A woman half hidden.
"Hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war." Madame Kovarian answered and Susan took a step forwards, eyeing the screen with a curious but unmistakable glare. She was not so cold in her anger as the Doctor.
"What war? Against who?" Susan asked, stubbornly. All this trouble, all this pain and suffering on Amy and Melody's part and she would like to very well know why. Kovarian's one showing eye met Susan's two blazing ones and for a moment it looked like she was going to smirk. Instead, her gaze returned back to the Doctor.
"Against you, Doctor." She punctuated, darkly. The Doctor didn't know how to take that. Neither did Susan but she knew what emotion she met the statement with; anger. So much that she barely knew how she contained it. With her grandfather, he was ice: cold and calculating and dark with the ability to cut you and leave you bleeding with no emotion spared on his part. For Susan, her anger was a fire. A passion to protect the ones she loved made her lash out, to shout, to glare and to leave everything burning behind her.
"And why on Earth would you do that?" Susan asked, carefully, lowly. The Doctor continued in his silence, thinking it over- a war against him?
"The Doctor is vermin. One man that lies and schemes and destroys. He will fall." Kovarian threw back bitterly.
"So you take a child?" That was what Susan could not understand. Yes, find a man, call him evil and raise an army, which was a response that was justified however delusional they were. For the Doctor was a good man. Her Grandfather was a good man. For all his faults, all his admittance that he was not, he was most certainly a good man.
"The child is of no consequence." Kovarian boldly stated, having no real interest in the girl other than who she will become and what she will do. Kill the Doctor. Susan gritted her teeth, ready to speak but her grandfather had found his tongue.
"No consequence?" He gave a bitter laugh, getting the meaning from Kovarian's words as though it were stitched on her eye patch. Melody was a weapon, an object and nothing more. The Doctor turned dark very quickly as he stepped closer to the screen, judging the woman who remained cold in front of him. He took a moment, before slamming his hands down hard on the unit. "A child is not a weapon!"
Susan stepped forwards instinctively to console him, to reign him in but it was all she could to not to smash the screen herself. Then Kovarian spoke again.
"Tell that to your granddaughter." And this time, she did speak. Susan's hearts grew cold as she took a step forwards, the statement throwing the Doctor off slightly. She faced Kovarian with a glare and chose her words carefully.
"I'm not a child anymore. I was barely one then." She punctuated, seething. This was what she was keeping from the Doctor, and he knew it as he stared, half between anger at the situation and fear for his granddaughter, for what could have happened? Susan paid him no heed as Kovarian smirked. "I made my choices."
"Susan?" The Doctor looked quickly at Susan, confused. She didn't say anything because now was not the time. Never the time.
"Now, Susan, what a gem. She's really something, Doctor." Kovarian spoke with contempt, revelling in the fact that she knew more than that one legendary Timelord. She was so, so far away now, and they were so useless. She spoke again to Susan, voice thick with fake pity as she simpered to Susan who was now very pale and breathing very hard. "Tell me, does it get any easier? The weight of guilt. That it was your entire fault…"
"Shut up." Susan threatened.
"Or do you just revel in it." Kovarian hissed and Susan brought her fist down on the unit, sending a loud bang through the room. The Doctor watched on, glowering and placing his confusion away, focusing on the fact that they had won. And however many threats or remarks were thrown at Susan and himself, they wouldn't work.
"Shut up! You will never make Melody into a weapon!" Susan promised, and Kovarian's smirk dropped into the cold and calculating look again.
"Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be." She said on the screen, making the Doctor snap once more. But Susan grew cold. Something was wrong but she didn't know what, too wrapped up in the implications of Kovarian's taunts towards her. He was never to know that. She would tell him when the time was right- when she knew how to.
"Except you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again." The Doctor roared at the screen, the promise there in his voice as he stepped back. Susan took his hand.
"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice the same way? It's a privilege." Kovarian countered back and Susan stared at the woman who she knew held in utmost contempt. The Doctor rubbed the back of her palm with his thumb, thinking and growing nervous. Susan tried to think, the second lasting an age as it came to her. Susan thought she might throw up.
"Oh no." She whispered, anger turning to fear as she caught her Grandfather's gaze, both eyes wide and mouth agape. "Grandfather, Amy."
"Amy." Susan knew he'd gotten it and he let go of her hand, moving away from the unit. The urgency was there as he repeated the name. "Amy."
"Go!" Susan shouted as he ran out of the room. Susan just stood, rooted to the spot, to process it all. Melody was Flesh. They had lost. They had all lost. What were they to do now? What could they possibly do? She was nothing. She was a scared girl all over again. She'd been a mother, a wife, a grandmother. But she was a scared little girl who should never have left Gallifrey.
But her despair turned to anger as her tear filled eyes caught the one still staring maliciously at her from the screen. Kovarian. Susan strode over, wiping away the tears to glare fiercely at Kovarian.
"You think you've won? Hm? You think he won't be coming for you again? You think that the next time I see you I am not going to destroy you for what you've done? You are sick, Kovarian." She spat at the screen, at the unruffled woman who deserved to be left somewhere alone and deserted for a long, long time. They would get Melody back. If the Doctor gave up hope, if the Ponds gave up hope, she didn't care. She would find Melody. She would find that little girl before they ever hurt her. Susan wasn't finished yet. "I will tell you something. You know me. You know what I have done. You know how I regenerated and what happened because of it. That Susan is gone now but I'm sure I could find a way of bringing her back. Because you may be scared of my grandfather. But you have not met me."
Susan switched the screen off.
She was angry, and scared. Immediately she felt her feet move as she ran out of the room into the corridor, chasing after her grandfather who was a good 5 minutes ahead of her. Her heart pounded as she reached stairs, which she jumped two at a time, landing on metal grated floors with a clatter before navigating the twists and turns of corridors and walkways. She wasn't even paying attention; maybe there was still time, maybe they could stabilise the Flesh so they could track her down or something, anything. Melody had to be safe.
The Doctor ran on as well. He reached the door, battering it down, trying to warn Amy that Melody was flesh, that she wasn't real as he fumbled for his sonic, making the door open as he bounded into the hanger, eyes wide, and hearts pounding. But the silence met him. The fight was over.
"Amy!" He ran in, and stopped after a moment, looking on the scene that surrounded him. "Amy." The Doctor said, much quieter, already knowing he was too late. Bodies of Monks lay fallen around the TARDIS. Strax lay, dying, next to a bunch of crates and Vastra was over by the far side. But the Doctor's eyes met the ones of Rory the Romans.
"Yeah, we know." He echoed, dully. The Doctor just stood there, breathing hard but slowing as he tried to fight the urge to crumple. Rory walked away from the man, and over to Strax.
"It's strange. I have often dreamed of dying in combat. I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped." Strax said, breathing difficult. Rory bent down and placed a consoling hand on his comrade's shoulder.
"Come on, Strax. Don't give up." Rory urged him. The Doctor just stood there, silent, thinking about how he had caused all of this.
"It's all right. I've had a good life. I'm nearly twelve." Strax told the Roman.
"Listen to me. You'll be back on your feet in no time. You're a warrior." Rory didn't want him to die, he was a nurse for goodness sake. A trait that Strax deemed one of his own.
"Rory, I'm a nurse." Strax let out a wheezy cough and closed his eyes. The Doctor tore his gaze away, and saw Jenny comforting Amelia. He walked over, slowly, not knowing what to say. He looked up as Amy saw him.
"So they took her anyway. All this was for nothing." Amy told him, her voice hollow in her grief. All the precautions, all the plans. Nothing. It hadn't worked. He thought it had- they all had thought that but it had crashed and burnt and now they were left with nothing. The Doctor shook his head slightly, knowing all the words he could offer her would be no comfort, but he tried.
"I am so…sorry." He finished, looking up at her as she stood up, facing him as though accusing him. The Doctor took a step forwards to console her himself but Amy flinched, stepping back away from him and he just stared back at her, unbelieving and distraught.
"Amy, it's not his fault." Jenny told her.
"I know. I know." Amy said after a split second and the Doctor watched as tears once more began to build up in her eyes before she walked away from him. Rory went to console her and the Doctor merely watched, concern evident.
"Doctor, there's someone who wants to speak to you. Her name is Lorna. She came to warn us." Vastra told him and he followed her to find Lorna's lying body. He got out the sonic and scanned her before squatting down next to her, reading the results. She was dying. He let the sonic drop before wiping his face, tiredness on it because he was so old and he hadn't meant for any of it. Lorna then opened her eyes and the Doctor plastered on a kind smile.
"Hey. Hello."
"Doctor." She breathes, smiling despite her state. The Doctor looked for the words to say, hands restless as he looked at the dying girl.
"You helped my friends. Thank you." The Doctor thanked her softly.
"I met you once, in the Gamma Forests, with your granddaughter. I recognised her." Lorna told her, not having spoken to the younger Timelord back then. That had been when she knew the Doctor was there. But his eyes held no recognition. "You don't remember me."
"Hey, of course I remember." He told her, kindly, taking her face in his palms, willing her to hold on as tears fell from her eyes. "I remember everyone. Hey, we ran, you and me. Didn't we run, Lorna?"
As the last tear fell down her cheek, Lorna's eyes closed, and her face slackened, falling to the side as though she had simply fallen asleep. She was dead. The Doctor turned away, looking at Vastra. "Who was she?"
"I don't know, but she was very brave." Vastra told him and the Doctor looked away as a moment of realization crept upon him.
"They're always brave." He said softly, before turning his gaze back to Lorna, and whispering it again. "They're always brave."
"So, what now? They'd almost certainly have taken her to Earth. Raise her in the correct environment." Vastra asked as the Doctor stood back up, defeated.
"Yes, they did. And it's already too late." He moved past her, just wanting to leave now.
"You're giving up? You never do that." Vastra cried after him and the Doctor turned around to face the Silurian, defeat bleeding into anger.
"Yeah, and don't you sometimes wish I did?"
"Well then, soldier. How goes the day?" The voice of River Song echoed through the hanger as the light from her Vortex Manipulator flashed away. The Doctor trembled, finally an outlet for his anger as he turned ever so slowly to the woman, his eyes full of pain.
"Where the hell have you been? Every time you've asked, I have been there. Where the hell were you today?" He marched up to her, voice almost cracking but not quite; he managed to rein it in but his hands were clasping and unclasping out of fists, his emotion intangible. But River Song only sucked in a breath, and replied calmly.
"I couldn't have prevented this." She spoke, with a shake of her head. But no, the Doctor wasn't having that.
"You could have tried!" He shook, straining out the words with such contempt they sounded hoarse, undefinable. He turned away as every fibre of his being wanted to break down. He strode away. How dare she? How dare she? Why had she not come? Every time she'd ask, he had come and if he was so special to her, then why the hell had she not come. Her next words, made the Doctor's blood run cold in his two cracked hearts.
"And so, my love, could you." River stated, simply and he turned back, shocked at her words; just standing there. But her attention turned to Rory and to Amy. "I know you're not all right. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be." She assured them.
"You think I wanted this?" The Doctor cut across, pointing at Amy and Rory as his face contorted, anger blaring from his words as he rounded on River Song, marching over to her and staring her down. "I didn't do this. This, this wasn't me!"
"This was exactly you. All this. All of it. You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name. Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child, the child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you." River spoke, her voice never raising, her tone tired and accepting.
The Doctor felt his world crumbling. But he wasn't like that. He wasn't dark or a weapon or some devil bearing down. He wasn't…he wasn't. But tears pricked his eyes as he listened. Was this it? His legacy. Some demon, some dark legend that stirred up fear in the hearts of all those people, all those soldiers. He never meant. All this, he never meant. He had tried to…all of his thoughts never finished as they each jumbled on top of one another, trying to digest River's words as she spoke them. Finally, he turned back from the TARDIS and walked forwards, cold.
"Who are you?" He asked of her.
"Oh look, your cot. Haven't seen that in a very long while." River said, bounding back but the Doctor lashed out, grabbing her wrist.
"No, no, you tell me. Tell me who you are." It was a demand. It was a beg. He didn't know what it was and neither did she only that he needed, needed to know. And River, being River, gave a lazy smile, slowly removing his hand from her wrist.
"I am telling you. Can't you read?" She placed his hand onto his cot. He looked at her, clamping his jaw as he fought of the wave of initial anger that wanted her to stop speaking in riddles. But he looked down, at the cot, his mind working. Then…oh. It clicked, so simplistically, it clicked. The rage left him, instead only relief and awe was left. He looked back up at her, and she smiled, and so did he.
"Hello."
"Hello." She beamed. He gave a silly little laugh, a giggle, as though he really was a giddy 12 year old.
"But, but that means…" He thought, overjoyed and a little bit embarrassed.
"I'm afraid it does." Melody Pond answered in a happy voice. For finally he knew who she was. The Doctor clapped his hands, rubbing them together as his gaze flitted towards her parents who had that lovely confused looks that humans regularly got on their faces.
"Ooo. But you and I, we, we, we, er." He imitated kissing and River leant forwards, her grin only growing.
"Yes." She purred and he gave a chuckle again, rubbing his hands together as he became all excited, looking furtively back at the Ponds. Oh, it was so great. One big family, eh? He pulled himself together, a plan forming as he straightened his jacket and adjusted his very cool bow tie.
"How do I look?" He asked her.
"Amazing."
"I'd better be." He shot back.
"Yes, you'd better be." River Song agreed, and nodded. The Doctor twirled, the smile unable to leave his face as he pointed to the lizard woman and her wife.
"Vastra and Jenny, till the next time. Rory and Amy, I know where to find your daughter, and on my life, she will be safe. Susan, come on. River, get them all home." He turned back from them, taking his sonic out and holding it high. It buzzed and the forcefield lifted so that he could access his magical blue box.
But then the sonic had activated something else.
"Oh, Doctor." A large hologram screen covered a large portion of the wall, showing an image; the sneering expression on Madame Kovarian's face. The Doctor turned, his grin turning dark as he surveyed the grim woman.
"I'll find her. Wherever you've taken her, I will find her." He promised. He knew who she grew up to be, he knew that River Song was safe. But Kovarian chuckled darkly.
"And what of poor Susan?" She crooned. The Doctor scoffed. Susan was with them. Was this another threat? He strode forwards towards the screen.
"She is right here." He said, and opened an arm out for the girl to hug her grandfather, to show Kovarian they were united, that that was one bond that you could never ever break. But seconds went by and the woman's smirk grew. The Doctor's blood ran cold as his arm dropped and he looked around the room. Vastra and Jenny. Rory and Amy. River and the rest.
No Susan.
"Susan?" He called with furtive eyes as the others looked around as well. "SUSAN! Where is she?" He strode to River. She had the answers, she would know. River gave a soft shake of her curls and the emotion that trembled through her unwavering voice was tantamount.
"I'm very sorry." She said but the Doctor was having none of it. He marched to Vastra, his emotions running wild. No, it couldn't be. She'd gotten held up. That woman had nothing over him. Nothing.
"Where is she, Vastra? She was with you?" He attempted to confirm, mouth growing dry. Vastra stared at him blankly and shook her head. His hearts thudded in his chest, blood pumping twice over so that it sounded like it filled his ears. But one voice cut through like a knife in flesh; harsh and coarse.
"Look how the Time Lord trembles. Don't worry. She's in good care." Kovarian simpered, overcome with victory. The Time Lord turned back to the image, his jaw working furiously as he tried to contain himself, tell himself she'd gotten held up and that at any moment Susan would appear at his side, as he regarded Kovarian in silence.
Then the silence was broken by screams.
The sound tore through the hanger so it felt as though it came from every corner, every gap and straight back into the Doctor's ears as he froze. It was high and loud and full of terror, eliciting the same from the Doctor as he only stared at the screen. Painful screams; screams that can only come from the deepest and darkest recesses of the mind.
"No…no…" He whispered hoarsely. It couldn't be her, so terror-filled and nightmarish it was. It was a wail of pure fear, a keen that chilled him to the very core of the erratic hearts in his chest. But then the image of the picture changed, as if someone had flicked a switch to show him his worst nightmare.
It was the back of a ship; a hold in which were two guards, hardened faces under caps and guns in each hand. The Doctor clocked the blood on one of the butts. His fury grew so that it equalled his despair. For then he saw her, huddled in the back, her legs drawn up like a child.
Susan.
If time could stop, then it would've right then, in that instant. The screams were muffled, silent because the only thing that was reaching his brain was that picture of her. She was cowering, holding something and her face was covered in a mix of sweat and tears, and a cut on her forehead from the gun hitting her was bleeding slightly. She looked around wide eyed and shaking. She saw him.
"GRANDFATHER!" She shouted at him, clawing closer but the guard moved his gun, a silent threat and Susan shrank away, clutching to her chest even tighter. The Doctor could move again, his own cry of terror ripping from his throat. Not her, no not his Susan. Please.
"SUSAN!" He could do nothing. Nothing, he had failed. He had failed as a grandfather, as the Doctor. He had failed again. Not only Melody but Susan as well. Why? Why? Susan looked at him in terror and gave a small yet brave smile which only made him want to reach through the hologram and get to her.
"I'll look after her." She shouted at him, her eyes pricking with fresh tears as she implored. He looked at her, and around the ship she was in, at a loss. He could do nothing. Look after who? "Tell them. Tell them that I will keep her safe!" Then he saw what Susan was holding. A baby. Susan was holding a baby in her arms, pressing the child to her chest, between her arms and knees to shield it from the guards and their guns. Melody Pond. But he didn't care, not at that moment, not even as the Ponds surged forwards, desperate to see their daughter, he had only eyes for his granddaughter.
"SUSAN!" He shouted at her, wishing he could get to her. If he could just get to her. He tried to speak again, his mouth moves but no sound comes out, only making Kovarian more victorious.
"A full bodied Time Lord. Oh, Doctor, you've been holding out on us." She sneered, and he reacted instantly, marching up closer to the screen and glaring; fire in his eyes.
"Give her back. I want both of them back NOW!" He roared, breathing hard. In and out, his two hearts working furiously from underneath the tweed. He had had enough, seen enough and wanted them back.
"And yet you won't, Doctor." The eye-patched woman did not crack so easily, her voice curt.
"Susan!" Susan surged forwards again at her grandfather's words but the guard brought the butt of the gun down swiftly onto Susan's knee and they heard the unmistakable crunch and Susan howled out terrible, gut wrenching yell. But these were not screams of pain. These were screams of sorrow and despair and of imprisonment and capture and freedom. She cowered back away, still clutching Melody tight against her as she let out a strained whimper, now muttering in a much smaller voice. Then how did it sound louder to him than the screams?
"Grandfather…help…help me please." She whispered, drawing her knees again as her knee grew red, inflamed and she winced from the pain. Melody let out a howl and started to bawl and even through it all, Susan held onto her, and rocked her slightly in strained and bruised arms.
The Doctor's eyes grew dark as his hands balled into fists, he made a vow. "I'm coming for you, Susan. You and Melody. I promise! Susan!" He implored her to hear him. His face was red by the time he had stopped, breathing ragged and uneven as his eyes darted, focusing on the image of his granddaughter and the child of his best friends. His chest rose and fell. He looked around his, puts a hand through his hair as if he has only just realised where he is, that others were there. The Ponds couldn't take their eyes off of the image, hands clasped together before Amy broke and buried her head into Rory's chest.
"I'll keep her safe…I will…I'll keep her-" Susan rocked the child, the fight gone as she wept, resigned. The smug face of a smiling Madame Kovarian came into view as the Doctor fixed her with a glare, hiding the utter breaking of his hearts behind the mask of the Oncoming Storm. But it was Kovarian who had the last word.
"How sweet." She smirked. The hologram ended and the Doctor's legs finally buckled, he choked, a slender hand reaching up to wipe a broad nose, his eyes unblinking as the tears cascaded. His formerly angry face; screwed up with pent up grief and fury at it all, crumbled revealing a hurt, grieving and sad face. His shoulders slumped after and he stared at the dark floor, not even focusing on it, he focused on nothing, his mind's eye full of his Susan, his granddaughter…pleading. His age was showing, the eyes held those of an old, old man. The man with the weight of the world in his eyes and the weight of the universe on his shoulders. He had failed her.
He thought it was going to be alright. He was going to find Melody Pond, bring her home to her parents with Susan right by his side, holding his hand all the way. That she would travel with him, like the old days. Properly, with no secrets, no mysteries and no damned arguments. Still see her grow up again, even though she was already grown. She hadn't even had fish fingers and custard. So much to do.
It pained him that he was the cause, he was always the cause. The Doctor blinked back his own tears, always afraid to show his emotions, always afraid to break. In previous regenerations, he'd forgotten he was alien. Now he tried to remind himself that he was not human; he didn't, he couldn't pretend to be human.
So he stood up, and walked too calmly to River, and when he finally looked up from that dark floor, his eyes were swollen and red, pained and glazed with tears left unshed. There were no accusations this time, no yells, not even one. Instead, he asked her a question.
"Will I get her back?" His lips parted and the grating words fell out. It pained River to see him like this, but she could only do one thing. It was the rules, and on some level the Doctor knew that.
River shook her head, hiding the damage, her own memories and what this meant; for all of them. "Spoilers." She uttered, never so unwilling to let the words fall from her mouth. The Doctor bowed his head, working his jaw, thinking. Then he turned away and stalked back to the TARDIS. He'd get her back. The plan had not changed. Or at least, so he told himself. No, it hadn't changed. Susan would be fine. Melody would be fine.
And as he walked back to the TARDIS, this prompted the Ponds to rush forwards, finally out of their shock and grief.
"Doctor!" Rory shouted in vain, but knew the Doctor would not listen.
"No! Where are you going?" Amy yelled at him, screaming. No, she needed answers, why was he saying nothing. It wasn't just his granddaughter- their daughter was taken as well and damn it, Amy Pond wanted to know what the hell he was going to do. But the Doctor said nothing as he marched straight into the blue box, slamming the door behind him. "No!"
The blue box…goes away.
DEMONS RUN WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR
NIGHT WILL FALL AND DROWN THE SUN, WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR
FRIENDSHIP DIES AND TRUE LOVE LIES
NIGHT WILL FALL AND THE DARK WILL RISE
WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR
FAMILY SPLINTERED, KEEPER CRIED
LOSS IS FELT NOW SAY GOODBYE
WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR
DEMONS RUN BUT COUNT THE COST
THE BATTLES WON BUT THE CHILD IS LOST
