Author's note: date updated 07/09/15
Episode Seven: The Last Nealonian
Chapter Six
"FODE!" the Doctor yelled before turning to Manuel furiously once Fode had left the room. "Manuel, we need to do something –"
Manuel nodded, before looking to the two guards holding into his arms.
"Guards, I am still your king, no matter what that power-hungry deranged old fool would like you to think! Now unhand me and my friends!"
The six guards all exchanged quick, confused glances before instantly letting the three of them go.
"Sorry, my lord!" they each said, bowing.
Manuel held up his hand to stop their grovelling, quickly turning back to the Doctor.
"Doctor," he said quickly. "How much danger is Bella in?"
"More than you could ever know!" the Doctor said hurriedly, thinking of the time he had first met her and how the Slitheen had wanted to send her away to someone.
Manuel nodded, obviously thinking hard about the current situation.
"Then you must go to her." He said, sounding torn. "But how can I prepare my people for such a ruthless attack?"
The Doctor exchanged a glance with Jack.
"Get all the vinegar that you can find," the Doctor instructed. "The Slitheen are a deadly enemy to have at the best of times, it is the only thing that will protect you against them. Is there no other way for you all to get out?"
"It sounds like they are bombarding the Capital from all sides," Manuel told him.
"My lord," said one of the guards quickly. "We are receiving no response from any other settlement on Nealon. We have been entirely cut off."
"Where are your trading ships?" the Doctor pressed.
"It is too late for that now, Doctor." Manuel stated quietly, and then spoke loudly so that the Doctor wouldn't protest. "This attack has obviously been coming for some time, my granddaughter could see that, so I would say that the Slitheen have already destroyed any chance of escape. Please find Bella, I will protect what is left of my planet. Just find her!"
The Doctor didn't need to be told twice, although he could hear how concerned Manuel was for his people. He turned on his heal and headed out the open doors with Jack behind him as Manuel started his call to arms speech to those of his people remaining in the hall.
"Doctor, do you think the Slitheen are here for Bella?" Jack asked as they ran through the mud and debris as rain began to fall heavily around them.
"I don't know, but I don't feel like letting her be exposed to them!" the Doctor said in answer.
As they skidded around a corner they saw Bella and Fode surrounded by a circle of unconscious or dead guards. They couldn't tell if those on the ground were unconscious or worse from this distance, and the Doctor could hardly focus on that point as he saw that a tall, foreboding Slitheen was standing directly in front of Bella and Fode.
"Doctor we have to stop this!" Jack said.
"I know –"
Bella suddenly screamed and they both looked to her and saw Fode push her forwards into the Slitheen, who quickly took hold of her. The Slitheen held a thick needled up to her neck, the needle not dissimilar from the ones that they had encountered in the Amazon and Bella struggled against the green claws holding her, but she couldn't escape its tight grasp.
"Bella!" the Doctor yelled running forward, fear running through him at the thought of some kind of poison entering her system.
Suddenly a glass jar fell from Bella's pocket and she tried her hardest to catch it before it smashed on the ground. The Slitheen screamed and pushed Bella to the ground where she looked up to the Slitheen horrified as it slipped over onto the ground where it absorbed the vinegar before it exploded. Green slime covered Bella and the ground surrounding her.
Bella stood up, horrified by what had just happened as Manuel ran past the Doctor and Jack (who had both stopped) and stopped beside his granddaughter.
"Bella," he said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder but she shrunk away from his hand and turned to face them all, tears escaping her eyes.
"Bella?" the Doctor asked moving forward a few paces and Bella looked to him for a few moments before running to him, wrapping her shaking arms around his middle. He held onto her tightly as he exchanged a glance with Jack.
"I killed it," Bella somehow managed to say, despite her voice shaking almost as much as she was. "Oh my God, I killed it!"
"Bella, that wasn't your fault." the Doctor said in what he hoped was a soothing manner, stoking the back of her head to try and calm her back down. "That was an accident."
A well timed accident, he had to admit to himself, but an accident none the less.
"Jack," the Doctor said, looking to Jack again. "Take Bella back to the hall."
Bella pushed away from him and looked up to him, brushing the tears and slime out of her eyes.
"I'm not leaving you." She told him weakly.
"I will be right behind you, I promise." He said, placing his hands on both her arms, almost wincing as he said the word 'promise' after everything he had put her through.
Bella hesitated, and then slowly took hold of Jack's outstretched hand and they both headed back towards the hall, the ground giving an unsettling lurch every now and then. The Doctor watched them go before turning to Manuel, who had been talking to Fode very heatedly and new guards had come to take hold of the Elder.
"Doctor, there is something that I need to ask you and I understand full well that you would like to reprimand me over how Bella has been treated here these last five years but there is something far more pressing than that. Please do not interrupt me; it is of the utmost importance." Manuel said quickly, shocking the Doctor into silence. "In your absence did you tell anyone of our weakness?"
The Doctor stared at him feeling dumbstruck.
"No, I didn't have a chance. We were only gone for about ten minutes. But I would never – not when it would endanger Bella – I couldn't."
Manuel nodded, looking most perplexed.
"Why?" the Doctor asked curiously. "What have you found out? What did the Slitheen say to Fode?"
"No one but our own race knows about our own weakness." Manuel explained. "But you know that already, for I thought you were the only exception. Yet these creatures know of it also. Someone must of told them and I can think only of one other person, but he has been dead for a very long time –"
He suddenly stopped and his eyes widened. The Doctor turned and looked behind him and saw fifty Slitheen approaching them.
"What do they want?" the Doctor asked quickly. "Why are they attacking your planet?"
"They want something that I will not give them." He said determinedly before walking off in the same direction as Bella and Jack had, the Doctor following angrily, wishing people would just give him straight answers for once instead of acting so dramatic.
The Doctor followed Manuel around the corner and found that almost everyone above the age of seventeen was standing before the hall with swords and guns, the swords dripping in what smelt like vinegar.
"We are ready to fight, my lord." One of the women said.
Manuel nodded solemnly before turning to the Doctor, who had stopped beside Bella and Jack.
"I do not expect you to fight and if truth be told I would prefer you not to." He told them.
"Not a chance," Jack said, letting go of Bella's hand and moving forward. "I've had some experience with the Slitheen and I have a pretty cool trick that might come in handy. You might want my help."
"Very well," Manuel said bowing slightly. "I appreciate your willingness to help, arm yourself.
Jack smiled and moved over to a table, leaving Bella standing feeling hopeless. The Doctor looked to her and took her hand.
"You and Bella should leave, Doctor." Manuel said. "Leave in your Blue Box. War is not a place in which either of you belong."
"I'm not leaving without Jack." The Doctor said.
Manuel's face flushed angrily.
"So be it!" he walked away, his people following him as Jack walked back to them smiling slightly.
"You can leave you know," he told them lightly. "Just come back and get me when all this is over."
"I'm not leaving anyone else behind on this planet!" the Doctor said heatedly and Jack gave a shrug then smiled reassuringly at Bella before hugging her tightly.
"You know," he said, still holding onto her. "Seeing as I am going off to war and there is so much uncertainty, I think this is my last chance to do this –"He pulled her closure to him and put one hand on her cheek and kissed her quite passionately before letting her go and walking away, leaving her wide-eyed and breathless, a stupefied expression on her pale, slime-covered face.
The Doctor rolled his eyes as he ignored the jealous feeling that was rising in his stomach. The sounds of the battle between the guards and the Slitheen in the capital surrounding them arose and the Doctor and Bella moved uncomfortably. The renewed sounds of explosions began soon after and the Doctor grabbed Bella's hand and tried looking for somewhere safer. Bella suddenly gave a cry and ran forwards.
"BELLA!" the Doctor yelled. He ran after her and saw her collapse to the muddy ground beside a body. It was Jack, the Doctor thought heavily, watching Bella pull him closer to her.
As the rain fell on them now, a Slitheen approached Bella, who took hold of Jack's vinegary sword and stood up.
"What did you do to him?" ordered Bella furiously, and she continued to ignore the Doctor telling her to get back from the Slitheen.
The Slitheen looked at her and cackled before Jack gave a gasp, Bella and the Slitheen both looking down to him.
"That was nothing compared to being buried alive!" he said breathing heavily before looking up and seeing Bella staring at him, panic now on his face.
As Bella looked at Jack, the Slitheen recovered from the shock of seeing Jack come back from the dead and snatched the vinegary sword from Bella's hands and before she could do anything other than look back to the Slitheen; it drove the sword straight into Bella's stomach.
"NO!" The Doctor yelled, running forward now.
Jack yelled angrily and stood up as the Slitheen pulled out the sword from Bella's stomach, quickly shooting it with his own gun, initiating a string of violent attacks. The Doctor reached Bella just as she fell backwards down towards the mud but he caught her and sunk to the ground holding her. There was blood everywhere. He noticed movement beside one of the house and he looked up to see a young woman. It was the young woman he had seen talking to Bella in Scotland. He blinked before she disappeared.
"Bella?" the Doctor asked, looking back down to Bella, thinking that he could ponder the mysterious girl later on.
Bella gasped for air and looked up to the Doctor, her eyes wide and terrified.
"Don't leave me," she managed to gasp.
"I won't, I promise." the Doctor said, his voice shaking. "Just don't leave me!"
She gave a tiny smile and closed her eyes as a Slitheen exploded somewhere near them and Jack reappeared beside them covered in green slime.
"Is she alright?" he asked quickly, panting slightly.
Before the Doctor had a chance to answer him, Manuel ran to them and knelt in front of the Doctor beside his granddaughter, who was slipping in and out of consciousness.
"What was she stabbed with?" asked Manuel, sounding almost distraught, like a man who was on the verge of losing everything.
"One of the swords," Jack said.
"Not poison?" he pressed.
"No," Jack answered shaking his head.
"Good," Manuel said, sounding genuinely relieved. "Doctor, you must take her away to keep her safe! Bella will heal slowly, but she will be fine in a day or so. She will live a very long life to the age of around five hundred in human years, maybe more, never aging. Bella could spend her long life with a lonely Time Lord…"
The Doctor looked down at Bella in his arms, her eyes closed and her breathing was becoming very laboured. He would like nothing more than to spend five hundred years with her travelling the universe, but would she want that after he abandoned her and after all of this? He looked at all the wounded surrounding them, some healing rapidly, others collapsing on the ground. There were fires spreading through the houses and the night air was filled with the sounds of gut wrenching screams that made him feel physically ill.
"You cannot save the rest of us, Doctor." Manuel said, as if guessing the Doctor's train of thought. "Not now. If we had listen to Bella five years ago when she first warned us that there might be some kind of attack in the near future, we might have been prepared and we might have deserved saving. But you can still save her of this fate!"
The Doctor quickly lifted Bella up in his arms as he stood.
"I will come back for you!" he said resolutely. "I will help you fight this -"
"No!" Manuel yelled at him, grabbing the Doctor's arm. "Have you not done enough for this universe yet? Have you not witnessed enough death and destruction? No, you must never come back here, you must protect Bella! I regret that I never treated her with enough love and respect, but I could not with the superstitious old fools on the council. They had condemned her for her mother's mistakes. I could do nothing but try my hardest to protect her and savour the moments we had alone…"
"I know," the Doctor said heavily. "I saw that in how you reacted earlier."
Manuel nodded as another house near them exploded, making the ground shake.
"Do something for me now, Doctor," said Manuel in a slow, tired voice. "Promise me you will never leave her willingly again."
"I promise," the Doctor said truthfully, thinking that there was going to be only one way to separate them now, and that would be Bella's decision to leave him and he sincerely hoped that that day would never come.
Manuel took one last look at his granddaughter, who was unconscious still in the Doctor's arms, brushing a hand across her forehead, before giving the Doctor a final nod.
"Now, go." Manuel said sadly, "and never come back." He added, turning and walking back into the heart of the battle, his sword raised and an accepting expression on his face.
The Doctor and Jack walked as quickly as they could back to the TARDIS. As Jack fumbled with his key and the lock, the Doctor looked down once again to Bella, whose necklace was now showing; it was her TARDIS key. She'd worn it all these long years, the Doctor thought achingly.
"It's open," Jack said, holding both the doors open so the Doctor could rush in. He placed Bella gently on the yellow seat where Jack held her in place as the Doctor pulled the leaver that fired up the klaxon and made the Time Rotor rise and fall.
Guilt was becoming almost over powering as he operated the TARDIS. Glancing down to Bella every few seconds, he was torn between her and her people that he had left behind. He knew what would happen, he could see it clearly in his mind.
As they landed the Doctor stood still for a moment and looked down at himself. His brown suit was covered in mud, slime and Bella's blood.
"Doctor, where are we?" Jack asked.
"Back at Torchwood," he said, taking off his long light brown overcoat and placing it around Bella, who was now shivering, before lifting her into his arms again. He followed Jack out of the TARDIS doors and into the Torchwood hub. He had managed to land the TARDIS on the same level as Jack's office and Gwen Cooper was sitting at the middle computer.
"Back already, Jack?" She asked smiling, not looking up from her computer.
Jack didn't answer her; he just continued walking straight to his office. Ianto Jones came out of a round doorway and looked at Jack's troubled expression before looking to the Doctor carrying a bloody Bella and gasped. "Jack, what happened?"
Gwen, hearing Ianto's gasp, finally looked up and jumped up in shock, her face white.
"Oh my God!" she cried in concern and shock.
Jack held open his office door open for the Doctor, who walked in and placed Bella down gently on the three-seater sofa beside Jack's desk and sat on the side of the lounge too, looking down to Bella and watching her closely for signs of healing.
"Ianto, I need warm water and blankets!" Jack said to Ianto urgently, who had (along with Gwen) followed them into the office.
"Yes, sir," Ianto said before running out of the room to get exactly what Jack needed.
"Jack?" Gwen asked, touching his arm.
Jack turned around to her and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes, before he hugged her emotionally.
"Doctor?" said a very small and weak voice.
"Bella!" the Doctor said, leaning over her a bit more.
She stirred and opened her eyes and found the Doctor's worried face leaning over her.
"Where are we? What happened? Where's Manuel? and the Slitheen? And Jack, where is Jack?" her breathing increased as she began to panic and she looked around until Jack moved into her line of sight.
"You're okay, Bella." The Doctor said soothingly, taking her hand and putting a hand on the side of her face. "Jack is here and the Slitheen are not. You are back at Torchwood and you're safe now. I will look after you."
Bella looked straight into his eyes. "Are you only doing that because Manuel told you too?" she asked him quietly.
"No," the Doctor said, feeling slightly hurt, but he knew he deserved a bit of mistrust from her at the moment. "Because I want to and I was an idiot for leaving you behind in the first place. Will you still travel with me?"
"Yeah," Bella managed to say, a slight smile on her face, but the Doctor could see the pain behind it.
The Doctor's own smile faded as he knew what he needed to try and do now. "You know that I will never leave you again, but there is something I have to go and do –"
"I know," Bella interrupted sadly, looking down.
"Here," the Doctor said, taking his left hand from her face and reaching into his pocket for his Sonic Screwdriver and handing it to her. "You know have my Sonic Screwdriver and my lovely overcoat. Please look after them until I get back."
"But won't you need it?" she asked quickly.
"The screwdriver isn't any use in this situation, Bella." He said quietly and Bella nodded as he stood up and moved to the door, turning to look back at her.
"Be back soon," he said with a forced smile before walking out. He hated leaving her already.
Bella felt a tear escape her eyes as he walked out of Jack's door, and as the sound of the TARDIS's dematerialisation filled the hub, she struggled to hold back the tears. Jack came and sat beside her on the lounge and he put his arm around her and pulled her close. There was so much uncertainty, and now that the Doctor had gone, she felt as though she could let her pain show as she grabbed her stomach. Would the Doctor be able to do anything to help the Nealonians? Was it already too late?
- O -
The Doctor stood in the remains of the Nealon Capital with various things still on fire and not one single Nealonian left alive. In the light from the rising sun he could see through the thick smoke the pale green sky and some Ood standing in the distance, all joined in a circle. He could hear them mourning for their own losses and for Bella, the last Nealonian in the entire Universe…
"Now Bella is just like me." The Doctor said emotionally, a few tears escaping his eyes as looked up to a clear spot in the sky where he knew Gallifrey was located. He had failed again.
The Doctor turned his back on the Ood and the destroyed civilisation and walked back into the TARDIS. As the TARDIS dematerialised, two figures that the Doctor had not seen, stood watching; one tall and greying man, the other even taller and metal.
- O -
The Doctor stood in Jack's doorway, just watching Bella asleep on the lounge, sitting up and waiting for him, and Jack fast asleep at his desk, leaning back on his chair. Bella was still covered head to foot in mud and slime, her own blood mixed into that as well. He walked forward slowly into the room and sat on the end of the lounge beside her and she stirred and opened her heavy eyes to find him looking at her. He saw relief wash over every inch of her filthy face before she looked at his expression and her face became paler.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her quiet voice waking Jack up.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, his voice shaking violently. "I got there too late. They're all gone. All of them just like the Time Lords."
Bella bit her lip so she wouldn't cry out, but tears still managed to escape as she watched the Doctor put his face in his hands. She crawled to him (which was still quite painful for her) and put her arms around him to offer him some comfort and to show him that she didn't blame him for anything.
Guilt, tremendous guilt, flooded over the Doctor and he wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her shoulder. Surprised by the Doctor's sudden breakdown, Bella held tightly onto him and looked to Jack, who looked back slightly stunned.
"I'm so sorry Bella!" the Doctor said, his voice shaking violently. He shouldn't be doing this to her, but he couldn't stop. He felt like he owed it to her to explain, to accept all of her blame. "This was all my fault, I should never have left you there..."
Bella looked up to Jack, who nodded and quietly stood and made his way out the door, closing it behind him.
"Doctor," Bella said gently, still holding him as tightly as she could manage. "It wasn't your fault, the Slitheen wanted revenge for what happened back home."
"They were after you," the Doctor gasped, horrified, looking at her and making her loosen her grip on him.
"They didn't want to take me anywhere this time; it was all just to kill me." Bella told him heavily, shrugging. "Only I should have seen it was them years ago. I knew that there was an attack coming because the Ood warned me, but no one would listen to me. They might have been a pack of pompous, superstitious old cotters, but none of them deserved to... you know..." she added, struggling to accept that they had all gone.
"My grandfather -"her voice broke at this, and the Doctor firmly took both of her hands in his. "- he knew you better than you might have thought."
The Doctor frowned, watching her closely.
"He knew you'd come back." She told him quietly. "I am ashamed to admit it, but even on my darkest days when I had given up all hope, he would look at me as if he knew something that I didn't, a look as if he knew everything would turn out okay for me in the end."
The Doctor looked away, feeling sick.
"He admired you," Bella said.
"Who did?" the Doctor asked, feeling confused.
"My grandfather," she answered him sadly, unable to look him in the eye anymore for the memory of her grandfather made her want to cry, and she couldn't bring herself to do that in front of him. "He said that the Time Lords were awe-inspiring. Powerful beings who never interfered – well, most of the time at least. He told me about Gallifrey, about the domed citadel, the Eye of Harmony and the burnt orange sky. And he showed me the planet. I didn't know that we were so close to Gallifrey until he showed me and I didn't realise how hard it would have been being that close to your home."
The Doctor remained silent. His hearts ached as he listened to the awe in her voice and he wanted nothing more than to go home to Gallifrey and to take her with him, to show her how beautiful it really was.
"He also told me that my father took my mother back to Earth with him. Manuel never did tell me how though, considering that my father was human in a time where space travel wasn't possible unless you were an astronaut who was destined for the moon. I asked him why he didn't go after them both to try and get my mother back, because he really did seem to despise my father. And do you know what his reason for not travelling to Earth to get her was? He didn't want to risk unleashing war and destroying a planet that a lonely Time Lord could call home if he wanted too..."
The Doctor looked to her, seeing pain in her eyes. He had become overwhelmed with the sacrifice Manuel had made for him, and now for his granddaughter. He hugged Bella tightly and she held tightly onto him, feeling the safest she had in five years.
"I will never leave you again," he whispered.
"I know," Bella said quietly, before adding in a whisper; "And just so you know, I'm not going to leave you either. I mean, that should go without saying!"
The Doctor felt himself give a sad smile, his hold on her tightening. He assumed that Jack had filled her in on what had happened in the TARDIS after the TARDIS had dematerialised, and in a way he was glad that he didn't have to tell her himself. All he wanted to focus on now was the fact that Bella would be with him for the foreseeable future, and that was all that mattered.