"We didn't lose the game,
we just ran out of time."
-Vince Lombardi
Nowhere, Never
Sienna was having one hell of a time waking up.
"Sienna..."
She was working on it though.
"Sienna!"
After all, how could anyone sleep when that person wouldn't shut the fuck up.
"Sienna wake up."
The voice calling to her was somewhat familiar. A woman.
Sienna half sat up, squinting and was taken aback by the identity of her wake up call.
Theia.
Her great grandmother.
Daughter of Karn. Daughter of Gallifrey. High Priestess for a mother. Time Lord for a father.
All these things seemed to crystallize in Sienna's mind as she stared dumbly at the young woman who looked every bit as young as she had when she'd barely escaped Karn with her life all those years ago.
"Good. At least you are aware now." The strange young woman looked pleased as she came to sit beside Sienna on the bed.
It was then that Sienna noticed her surroundings. They were in a sparsely lit cave and Sienna was laying on a bed of straw. Both women appeared to be wearing matching red robes.
She rubbed at her head in confusion. Damn she had a headache.
"Wh-what... where the hell am I?" she asked, in a voice that was croaky from lack of use.
Theia sighed with obvious impatience. "Never mind that now. We have more interesting things to talk about. You realize that mother has accidentally created a time storm." Theia crossed her arms and shook her head. "Her obsession with that prophecy is about to bring the entire planet of Karn and the Sisterhood with it to an end." She looked disgusted.
Sienna blinked, struggling to sit up all the way. "How'd I get here? The last thing I remember was..." Wait a minute. What exactly was the last thing she remembered? And why did her head hurt so much?
"It was music." Theia replied, her eyes growing somewhat dreamy. "My favorite song." Theia peered down at Sienna, a hint of pride in her features. "You know the Doctor heard you. The Doctor found your mind. He came to save you." A knowing smile came to her face. "But of course he did."
"The Doctor." Sienna murmured, feeling more than a little dazed. "Where is the Doctor?"
Theia tilted her head to one side and looked at her with something akin to pity. "Don't you know? He is lost. He is out of time. I'm afraid they all are. That time storm moved in so fast." she shrugged helplessly.
Sienna rubbed at the back of her head once more. It really, truly hurt. Theia blurred before her eyes and Sienna had to blink to clear her vision. "So what can we do?" she wondered. "Is there any way to help them?"
Theia chuckled softly and stood. She walked over to the only table in the dark stone room and picked up a candle. The candle seemed to be the only source of light. It kept sputtering like it was burning in the rain, despite the fact the cave was dry. Theia brought the candle over and sat back down beside Sienna.
Theia leveled her gaze at Sienna, shadows from the candle dancing across her face. "I imagine it's far too late." she explained. "They're all out of time I'm afraid. In the end, I suppose mother would have wanted it this way. To destroy it all. To have everyone and everything on Karn go out like a candle rather than go alone at the hands of a Time Lord." An enigmatic smile crossed Theia's face and she blew out the candle.
The darkness was cold. Sienna could actually feel that. And for the very first time, she realized she wasn't afraid of the dark. The sudden absence of light strangely seemed to lessen the pain in her head.
The dark. The cold. The numbness. Sienna closed her eyes because why not? She couldn't see. Couldn't feel. What exactly mattered?
The Doctor's voice in her head, haunting and soft, answered her thoughts.
There is nothing bigger than this. No greater adventure. Nothing more beautiful.
Sienna felt the tears start to flow. Her eyes reopened.
"My Guardian Angel." she whispered softly
And just like that, the candle seemed to relight itself. Theia still sat where she had been, though Sienna could've sworn quite a bit of time had passed in the dark.
"There's nothing you can do for him." Theia insisted. "Just as there's nothing he can do for you. Though Rassilon knows he'll try." Theia chuckled once more and rolled her eyes. "You know, when I was dying, your great grandfather Clyde was convinced he could keep me around by sheer force of will."
"When you were... dying?" Sienna repeated, feeling disconnected. The white hot pain was back in her head. Felt like it was split in two.
"Yes well, after I'd gone to Earth and was no longer partaking of the Elixir of Life, old age finally caught up with me." She looked almost wistful as she thought back. "And my, did it happen fast. Clyde and the Doctors. None of them knew what to make of it." She giggled a bit, sounding young and care free. "Of course, I suppose old Doc Bantree was even more thrown by that second heartbeat he refused to admit he heard."
"You died." Sienna murmured, her mind starting to work properly, despite the buzzing in her brain and whatever was wrong with her head. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
"Yes, well. I'm afraid death has a tendency to catch up with all of us eventually." She looked at Sienna fondly with a half smile on her lovely face and smoothed a lock of hair back behind her great granddaughter's ear.
Sienna was starting to feel freaked out now because she was starting to notice something terribly wrong with this picture. Like, fucking downright Twilight Zone level wrong.
She tried to scoot to the edge of the straw bed and climb to her feet.
Theia looked disappointed. "No dear. Don't do that. There's no sense fighting. It's almost all over."
Sienna felt her heart thumping wildly in her chest, a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.
"You never answered me." Sienna accused, finally finding her feet. She backed unsteadily into the cave's stone wall. "Where am I? How the fuck did I get here?"
And then she noticed something that alarmed her more than anything else so far. Theia's hand, the one she'd used to smooth back Sienna's hair was covered in blood.
Theia stood and walked toward her slowly, still holding the sputtering candle. "Just calm down. I don't want you to be afraid. You aren't alone after all. They're here with you."
Sienna's heart skipped a beat at the cryptic words. "Please." she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Please tell me what is happening. Where am I? Who is here with me?"
Theia was now standing right in front of her. She didn't look menacing or threatening. She didn't look evil or sinister. But she shouldn't be here. Couldn't be here. There was no logical explanation. There was no such thing as ghosts...
"The Doctor is here. And so is that lovely girl from the other universe, Savannah. You know she's pregnant?"
Sienna took in a shaky breath. "What do you mean the Doctor and Savannah are here? They aren't here. It's just you and me in this tiny dark room."
Theia's face grew sad. "No dear. I'm not here. Not really."
Sienna's eyes narrowed. "Uhh. Glad you agree with reality. Now would you care to explain how I'm talking to you? Is this a dream? Am I asleep?"
Theia reached out with the hand not holding the candle and gently caressed Sienna's cheek. "You aren't asleep sweetheart. You're dying."
And the candle extinguished itself this time.
There was so much blood, it was difficult to see the severity of the injuries, but it certainly didn't take a neurosurgeon to see the injuries were severe. Possibly even fatal.
The Doctor was absolutely beside himself. He couldn't deal with the issue of the current temporal crisis because once he reached Sienna and saw the state she was in, nothing else at all mattered.
So here they were, outside of time, in the bottom of a crater left by a Population 0 star. Sienna lay there unmoving. Unconscious.
She had the pallor of a ghost, her breathing was shallow, she was bradycardic and diaphoretic. All possible symptoms of neurogenic shock. She was unresponsive to painful stimuli though she did seem to be mumbling occasionally.
At first it seemed to be a bunch of nonsense, but then her eyes sprang open.
"How'd I get here?"
He nearly died and regenerated with relief, at first thinking Sienna was speaking to him.
"Sienna." he said gently, leaning over her and gripping tightly to her blood stained hand. "Never mind that now."
"Where is the Doctor?" she insisted, sounding very concerned.
The Doctor felt something cold roll up his spine when he realized she was staring at him unseeingly. Having a conversation with someone who wasn't here. Her eyes fell closed again.
"Doctor!?"
He nearly died and regenerated from a heart attack when Savannah's voice called down into the pit from above.
"Savannah. Are you alright?" he called.
"Um. Yeah I think so." she sounded uncertain and very frightened. "Something funny happened though. That storm... it was..." She didn't finish her thought but she didn't really need to.
"Yes. I'm rather afraid it was." he replied dryly.
There was a moment of silence, followed by "How's Sienna?"
He sighed and squeezed the dying young woman's hand. "Not well." he said softly, doubting very much that Savannah could even hear him.
"Well. I'm coming down. I know you're a Doctor and all, but I might be able to help. I've taken a lot of first aid classes and shit."
"Savannah... you probably shouldn't do that." the Doctor said, raising his voice once more.
She ignored him and began to descend the rope he'd tied to a nearby tree. "And why the hell not?" she asked, grunting as she climbed down. "It seems like whatever was supposed to happen, happened already. And this rope you found- that they obviously left for you to find- seems sturdy enough for us to climb back up."
The Doctor had neither the energy or the inclination to argue.
Before long she was there at the bottom, in the dimness looking down at Sienna and himself. Savannah seemed to hesitate before kneeling down to take a look.
The Doctor could hear her suck in a breath. Yes. It truly didn't look good.
"And she can't..." Savannah cleared her throat nervously. "She can't like, heal herself?" she wondered.
"She can't." The Doctor confirmed, smoothing a lock of brown hair back from Sienna's face and tucking it behind her ear. He remembered back to the time when Jesse had been badly injured by the temporal echo of the Tregannon in the woods. Sienna had healed Jesse and when she'd recovered, she'd confided in the Doctor.
"So fucking ironic. I'm a complete mess. I'm the most broken person I know. But I can't heal myself."
She had, of course, at the time been referring to her drug addiction. The Doctor realized that she'd been wrong about that. Because she had healed herself. He brought her hand to his face and kissed it.
"Oh god." Savannah groaned. "She was coming to find me. This is all my fault."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I think today shall go down in the history books for the record breaking number of humans blaming themselves for things completely out of their control."
Savannah scoffed and reached over to take Sienna's other hand.
After a moment of silence, she breathed in disbelief. "Dude. It's like. Me."
The Doctor couldn't help but reply with a small smile.
Sienna's eyes fluttered open once more.
"Whoa." Savannah exclaimed, eyes wide.
"It keeps happening." the Doctor murmured hopelessly. "She's talking to someone who isn't here."
"My Guardian Angel." Sienna whispered.
The Doctor felt both his hearts breaking. She remembered.
"Hey. What the hell..." Savannah was looking down at the hand she was holding, incredulous.
"What is it?" the Doctor asked, honestly not even caring.
"Dude. She just squeezed my hand."
The Doctor sighed. "Perhaps a muscle spasm."
Savannah was shaking her head. "No. She definitely squeezed my hand... and look. Look at her arm."
The Doctor glanced over at the arm in question, not actually expecting to see anything, yet...
His eyes narrowed. He could've sworn he saw her move her left arm.
He looked closely at the right hand that he held onto, and the right arm. No movement there.
Sienna suddenly took in a rattly breath and asked in a frightened voice, "Who is here with me?"
The Doctor caressed her cheek. "I'm here with you Sienna." he told her, doubting very greatly she could hear anything.
"I'm right here with you too." Savannah whispered. "My name is Savannah. And you aren't alone."
Savannah gasped.
Yes. He had seen it too. Sienna's left shoulder had moved.
Before either of them could comment on it, Sienna spoke again.
"What do you mean the Doctor and Savannah are here? They aren't here. It's just you and me in this tiny dark room." Her brow furrowed. She looked distressed.
"What is happening?" Savannah demanded. "She can hear us. I'm sure of it. And why is only her left side moving. Do you think maybe she's paralyzed on one side?"
The Doctor was at a loss. "I'm not quite sure. The brain is a complex organ. Brain death can cause all sorts of..."
"Am I asleep?" Sienna asked.
Savannah suddenly shoved the Doctor slightly. "Let go." she instructed, indicating the right hand.
He looked at her, puzzled, but complied just the same. Savannah grabbed Sienna's right hand in hers.
The right arm immediately moved.
"Holy shit." Savannah exclaimed, looking like she'd seen a ghost. "Why is that happening only when I touch her?"
The Doctor blinked rapidly, his hearts hammering in his chest. "What made you think to do that?" he demanded.
"I-I-I don't know." Savannah stammered. "It just seemed like I should..." She looked up at the Doctor, her face faintly green, like she might be sick at any moment. "You know my great grandmother Theia was a healer." she said softly. "Ohila told me so..."
Before the Doctor could even respond, she dropped both Sienna's hands and brought her own trembling hands up toward the unconscious girl's head.
"I don't know why I'm doing this." she said shakily. "And I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing."
She looked slightly squeamish at having to touch the injuries but she took a deep breath to steel herself.
Then closed her eyes.
"I remember in the dreams I had." she murmured. "I remember Sienna healing you. I remember Sienna healing that Jesse dude. She just kinda, breathed in the pain..." Savannah began to take a breath in.
And right before his eyes, he saw Sienna's injuries rapidly healing.
"The Sacred Flame." he murmured in awe. "Even outside of time, it's affecting you, giving you the powers of your bloodline..."
And as Sienna groaned and began to stir, the Doctor felt hope unfurling itself deep inside him.
Savannah began to cough violently and started to fall over. The Doctor grabbed for her quickly and laid her down on the ground as gently as he could. He checked her pulse and once he was sure that her airway was okay, he turned to check on Sienna.
She was sitting up, giving him a total go-directly-to-hell look.
"Seriously?" she spat. "Just decided to play Mister Big Shot and fly into a fucking black hole without even discussing it with me."
"Sienna." he breathed, as relief nearly drown him. "You're alright."
She wasn't near done yet though. "You just walk out on me and have Bow Tie Boy restrain me like a fucking prisoner while you fly off to play Kamikaze Space Jesus."
The Doctor was starting to laugh.
"And then," she shouted angrily, "he wipes my goddamn memory." She stood up and began pacing the small space. "You two apparently had a little Time Lord tete-a-tete and decided that the menfolk knew what was best for the dumb junkie girl. No biggie. Just steal the memories of all the amazing things that happened." She stopped pacing and looked down at him accusingly. "I'd like you to explain to me, where the fuck they do that at?"
Now the Doctor was laughing so hard, he could hardly breathe. He was quite grateful for his respiratory bypass. She stood watching him in disbelief while he got himself under control and wiped tears out of his eyes.
Then he climbed to his feet, walked over to her and grabbed her in a tight hug.
She struggled. "I'm still fucking mad at you!" she assured him, her voice muffled by his chest.
He pulled back slightly and grabbed her face gently between his hands. "Well we can't have that." he remarked. "Just look what happened the last time I made you angry."
A slow grin spread across Sienna's face. "You know-it-all dickhead."
"You spoiled brat." he replied with a smirk. And then, he kissed her.
"Uh guys..."
The two separated guiltily to find Savannah sitting up looking groggy.
"Dude." Sienna breathed. "It's like... me."
Savannah leaned back against the wall of the pit with her arms crossed. "Don't mean to spoil the mood but, what exactly did you mean by us being 'outside of time'?" she asked the Doctor with raised eyebrows.
"Hello! Are you all okay down there?"
The voice of the older Doctor calling down from above made them all look up.
The blonde Doctor sighed. "Yes. Well. It appears we aren't the only ones who ended up outside of time."
So much for being rescued.