I haven't been writing lately, I'm thinking too far ahead again. Mmmm, but I'm glad that someone's reading this.
"Charls, it's too late." Riley patted Charls' shoulder.
They watched the Doctor's face drift further away as he continued to shout at them.
"The wonderful world of space travel." Riley sighed, "The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you."
Charls rubbed their face with their hands, "He'll come, eventually."
"No, it's too late. Our heat shield will pack in any minutes, and then we go into free fall. We'll fall into the sun way before he has a chance to do anything." Riley shook his head.
Charls smiled, "I can't leave him. We're lucky. We're lucky enough not to end up alone. You don't know the Doctor."
"You really are lucky then," Riley murmured, "I've never found anything like that."
They gazed at the ship, "Nothing? No girlfriend or boyfriend or partner? Not even a friend to stand by your side?"
We leaned back, "The job doesn't lend itself to stable relationships."
"Family?" They questioned.
"My dad's dead, and I haven't seen my mum in six years. She didn't want me to sign up for cargo tours. Things were said, and since then, all silent. She wanted to hold on to me, I know that. Oh, she's so stubborn." Riley slowly rambled, reminiscing about the past.
"I guess that's most families." Charls whispered.
"What about you?" He looked at Charls.
They thought about it for a moment, "Well, I don't really remember them. I've got a Mum and Dad like anyone else - just don't remember them. There was a period of time where I didn't remember much."
"I couldn't imagine forgetting everything." Riley huffed.
They smiled, "Easier than you think."
"Are you better now?" Riley asked, "Sorry, if it's a touchy subject or something."
Charls waved him off, "It's not, don't worry about it. I met the Doctor and just changed, I guess."
The two of them sat in silence for another minute.
"Is he a good man, the Doctor?"
Charls laughed, "I've only known him for a couple days, but yeah. I suppose he is a good man. Always trying to help people. Though, I'm not sure if he's just being curious or valiant."
"He sounds like a brilliant man." Riley laughed with me.
They nodded, "We had another friend with us. She's studying to be a doctor so she couldn't come for this trip. I think you've liked her."
Riley smiled, "You should introduce me."
"How are you so calm?" Charls asked, "Falling into the sun and here you are, with me, talking about girls."
He scoffed, "You're the one who brought it up!" He paused, "It's something we live with. Flying in space - you're always ready for death."
Charls hummed, "Seems like an awful waste. At least die living."
Riley tilted his head, "What about you?"
"Me?"
"You're going into the sun with me. Death and all that. Here you are, calm just like me." Riley described.
They sighed, "I'm not calm. I'm just acting calm. Nervous situations make me act all iffy."
"Iffy?" Riley mocked.
They chuckled, "Yeah, iffy. Like sometimes it makes me cocky or scared or aggressive. My natural instincts I guess. Scared is flight, agressive is fight. I guess cocky is my personal response."
"The cocky, aggressive, scared stranger." Riley sighed.
They half smiled, "That's me."
The pod jolted so hard that we got knocked over. The monitor read 'Remagnetizing.' A good thing, Charls guessed.
"We're being pulled back!" Riley exclaimed.
"I told you. He's a good man." Charls smiled.
Charls P.O.V.
The pod reconnected and I hurriedly got out. The only way for him to have gotten us was to have been really, really stubborn. Going outside of the ship about to fly into the sun in a mere spacesuit like an idiot. I ran to the Doctor who was curled up on the floor in the corridor. I placed my hand on his back for a brief second and retracted my hand. It was like with Lazarus. Something was wrong with him.
The Doctor sat up and opened his eyes a little, his eyes glowed with a bright light, "Stay away from me!" He said through gritted teeth and fell back with his eyes closed.
"What happened?" the Captain ran over to us.
"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" The Doctor muttered.
She ignored him, "Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" She ordered.
Riley ran off, glancing back at us.
"You mined that sun. Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" The Doctor panted and groaned.
"Doctor, are you okay?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"That sun is alive. A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!" The Doctor shouted.
McDonnell looked confused, "What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why's he saying that?"
She turned to me and I kept my eyes on the Doctor.
"Because it's living in me." The Doctor leaned back onto the wall.
"Oh, my God." McDonnell covered her mouth with her hands.
"Humans!" The Doctor spat, "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!"
"It takes too long. We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal." She defended.
"You've got to freeze me, quickly." The Doctor screamed and fell over, I rushed forwards and caught him.
I growled as the feeling of a living being inside another flooded me. That brokenness that I hated so much was in my arms and I wanted to throw it. I wanted to be as far away from it as possible. It was my instinct, from the Gray, to shut down anything that wasn't supposed to be and run. I gasped and held up the Doctor.
"I can't." I muttered.
"You need to, Charls. Stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't." The Doctor flailed in my arms, whimpering and screaming, "The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets! Med-centre, quickly! Quickly!"
"Captain!" I screamed, "Help me! I can't keep touching him!"
"What's wrong with touching him?" McDonnell ran over and took the brunt of the Doctor's weight as we walked him to the Med-centre.
"Impact in seven thirty." The computer announced.
I ran ahead as McDonnell practically dragged the Doctor in the room, "I've read the manual for stasis chambers before, never checked out a book while moving though."
I kept my eyes open, rummaging through my library at the same time as I fiddled with the controls. My brain felt like it would overload with the amount of tasks at hand.
"Charls, where are you?" The Doctor reached out his arm.
I rushed over, still reading through the book in my head, "Right here!" I grabbed his arm and helped him to the stasis chamber, "I can most definitely do this!" I let go of him once we'd gotten him onto the table.
"No, you don't know how this equipment works. You'll kill him!" McDonnell exclaimed, "Nobody can survive those temperatures!"
"He's the Doctor, he can survive anything." I ran to the control monitor and checked the controls. "And I trust him."
"Let me help you, then." McDonnell proposed.
I nodded, "I can't keep touching him - it messes up my brain. I need you to hold him down. Make sure he stays in there."
"Ten seconds," The Doctor whimpered, "That's all I'll be able to take. No more. Charls!"
I ran to his side, "What?"
"It's burning me up. I can't control it." He growled, "If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all." He stiffened then screamed, "I'm scared! I'm so scared."
I held his hand for a brief moment, "Hey, don't you remember. We're lucky enough to have each other! I can't die and neither can you. Now trust me!"
"It's burning through me! Then what'll happen?" The Doctor gasped.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Well, it'll probably go to me after you. But that won't happen, ay? Besides even if it did, I could just lock it away in the library. Stuff it in a bottle and throw it in a fish tank."
"There's this process, this thing that happens when I'm about to die." The Doctor blurted out, "It's like what happened with you but-"
I cut him off, "I said that won't happen! Now, shut up! You ready?"
"No." The Doctor shook his head.
"Well, that's too bad," I used the joysticks and rolled him into the chamber. I pressed 200 into the keypad and then the green button.
The Doctor screamed as the temperature fell. I watched the numbers fall and blocked out his cries. We'd made it to minus 70 when everything stopped. The power cut off.
"No! Charls, you can't stop now. Not yet." The Doctor leaned towards me, covered in frost.
"The power's been cut." I told him then turned to McDonnell, "Who's down there?"
"Leave it to me." She breathed and ran off.
"Impact in four forty seven." The computer announced.
I growled, "Oh, shut up!" I turned to the Doctor, his frost was melting and temperature rising again, "Come on, Doctor. What am I supposed to do? I don't carry ice in my pockets!"
The Doctor grunted and screamed, "Charls! Listen, I've only got a moment. You've got to go!"
"Not a chance in hell!" I told him.
He breathed heavily and turned to me, "You have to. Get to the front. Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them."
I barked, "You refuse to leave me and I'll refuse to leave you!"
"You've got to give back what they took!" He shouted.
I thought of an idea, "You can't handle it, right? Hand it over!"
"You can't do that!" the Doctor shouted.
"I'll take forever to get there and I'll talk even more." I shouted, "I'm greedy. I'm a human. Now hand it over!"
"Please just go!" He cried.
I pulled the Doctor out of the stasis chamber and set him on the floor. He screamed and whimpered, in extreme disagreement with my idea.
Just take the sun, throw it in the library. I thought quickly, bottle it up and put it in a fish tank. I took a deep breath and grabbed the Doctors hands.
"Trust me, Doctor." I whispered, "As soon as it's moved, run to the engine room.
"You're the one who should be running." He muttered.
"I'm just like you, aren't I? If you can take it then I can too. It'll extend the amount of time the crew has to release the particles and even if I burn up I'll be fine in 48 hours." I hurriedly advocated for my idea then placed his hands on my temples.
"Charls! Don't!" The Doctor screamed before the sun's life flowed from him into me.
I screwed my eyes shut and breathed. I was in my library, again. I looked around and saw a glowing ball of mist and gas standing in the middle of the room. For a brief second I wondered if the Doctor was okay. A split second followed by the sun's screams. I couldn't understand it but I knew what it was trying to say. I stepped forward and collapsed.
"Wow, didn't expect that." I moved my legs so that I sat regularly, "You've done a lot of damage."
The sun screeched back at me.
I frowned, "Sorry, they've done a lot of damage to you. Better?"
No reply.
I sighed, "Well, I think that we're stuck here. Well, not stuck. Just unconscious, I think."
The sun screamed again and launched itself at me. I was knocked to the floor as the sun tried to burn through me. I screamed along with it, it had lost its heart to some tiny humans who thought it was just a sun.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
It blistered my arms and hands as I shoved it off me. It leapt forwards again, scorching the floor of the library and lighting the carpet on fire. I became faintly aware of a voice, the Doctor's voice, telling me how stupid and human I was being. The library shook as something happened to my body. I wanted to open my eyes but I didn't. That was risky, that would be opening the library windows and letting the sun run out. The Doctor's voice got clearer and louder. As his voice got louder more sunlight flooded the library, not just small bulbs that usually lit it.
The sun searched around, prodding through my memories and even burning a few. And that hurt. It hurt like all the pain in the world combined. I'd been unconscious when my soul had burned. A complete REM state. This time I was awake to witness the flame and pain.
As the Doctor's voice got louder, the sun got bigger. Scorching everything it touched. I felt myself scream and I heard the Doctor try to comfort me. I ran towards the sun and held it down. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was taking away this library. I felt my skin burn and the sun flow through me.
I shouted at the top of my lungs and hoped he could hear me, "Doctor, you'd better run fast! I can give you a minute! Should have been ten but no one burns down this library!"
I gasped as the sun burned bright and hotter than ever. The only way I could have described would be something similar to looking at the sun but with your entire body. Or maybe if lava replaced your blood.
"Charls." I heard the Doctor's voice loud and clear, "It's going to be fine."
His voice faded away as the shaking stopped. I felt a wall behind my back as I woke up more. I watched as the sun started to dim, I guessed that the Doctor had succeeded. It retreated and bundled in on itself, a warm glow instead of an angry blaze.
"Bye." I managed to lift an arm and wave at it.
It swirled around in the library a little while longer before disappearing completely. I felt the burns on my body continue to sting as the heat of the sun left me. I gasped and opened my eyes. The library disappeared and in front of me was a very worried Doctor.
"Hello." I wheezed.
He gathered me in his arms and whispered, "You are a complete idiot."
I winced, "Ow. Ow. Arms. Body. Blisters. Ow."
The Doctor let go and smiled, "Next time I tell you to run, you'll run."
I smirked, "I'm only human, you know?"
The Doctor sighed, "You're never doing that again."
The two remaining crew members joined us with smiles.
"We've got just enough reserves." Riley said happily.
I nodded and got to my feet, leaning most of my weight on the Doctor.
"We'd better get you to the TARDIS." The Doctor looked over my arms. Some of the blisters had just been in my head but there were still some burns that needed treating.
"This is never your ship." Scannell said with disbelief as we walked to the TARDIS.
The Doctor circled around the TARDIS, checking it she was okay, "Compact, eh? And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her." The Doctor patted the edge of the doorway on the TARDIS.
I hummed and hung on Riley's shoulder, "You've got someone coming to pick you up?"
"We've sent out an official mayday. The authorities'll pick us up soon enough." Riley sighed.
"Though how we'll explain what happened…" Scannell wondered.
"Just tell them." The Doctor said simply and opened the door.
I limped towards him, "That sun needs care and protection. It's like any other living thing."
The Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and I went to join him when Riley tapped on my shoulder.
"Any chance you could still introduce me to your friend?" He asked sheepishly.
I laughed, "Probably not. But I reckon that you'll be able to find someone on your own time."
"You think?" Riley asked.
I nodded, "Definitely."
I stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door behind me. I cleared my throat and walked up the ramp.