A/N: Hi all! First of all, happy Doctor Who day! I'm so excited for the new season.
Hope you're also excited to read this new chapter! I was so excited to plan, write and post!
PS - I'm not an English native and don't have a beta reader so apologies for any mistakes :)
Enjoy!
The time lord pushed the monitor away. "Damn him." He started biting his nails, the TARDIS humming in consolation.
"Doctor?" The weak voice of his companion pulled him out of his thoughts, turning hastily towards her. There she was, his little human wrapped up in her TARDIS blue bathrobe paired with the usual bed head, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Couldn't you stay a little longer in bed?"
"Hey, Clara." He said, moving towards her and trying his best to keep his cool. "I thought I'd be away for a few minutes and come back next to you. I'd thought you'd still be asleep. Sorry."
"I can't stay asleep for a lifetime, you know?" She joked, letting her lips curl into a small, weary smile. "I heard some noises in here and thought something wrong might have happened. Is..." The companion stopped briefly to let our a yawn. "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah... Yeah." He said, before hastily adding his apologies for waking her up and nudging her to go back to bed.
"No no, Doctor. I'm fine I slept enough." She sighed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing nothing's wrong." He ran back to the console. "So, where are we going this time?" He started flipping switches.
"Doctor, I don't want to be lied to."
"Lying? Who's lying?" He chuckled uneasily.
"I'm not a child." She said, her voice ever so slightly more threatening.
He stopped. Who was he fooling? Clara could read him like an open book, and he was trying to lie to her? The person most dear to his heart?
But he didn't want to show her the video. He had to think of something else.
.
The time machine read his thoughts, immediately jumping in and shrilling.
"A message?" Clara repeated.
"Clara... I-it's nothing." He said racing to her, telepathically urging the time machine to shut up.
"Show me the message, Doctor." She said calmly.
The time lord sighed. "It's not important."
"It is to me because I'm most probably involved." Her tone was firm and unwavering.
"Trust me, Clara."
"I will, once you show me the message."
There wasn't much the time lord could do. If he didn't show it to her, she would find a way to watch it herself. He pressed a few buttons on the console, having the message appear on the monitor. Clara rushed as fast as she could to it before leaning to the metal console.
.
"Ready?" The Doctor asked.
Clara nodded.
The time lord proceeded to press a flashing white button, which started the message, before walking a few paces behind her.
"Hello, Doctor. Thought you wouldn't see me again." His hands turned into fists at the sight of him. "You know, we really enjoyed your presence." The Leader sighed. "I wish you and your companion would have stayed a little longer." His horrid smile made the time lord sick to the stomach. "Oh... How is she? Hope she recovered... So you both could come and visit. Or bring another companion; the more variety the better. Anything to make you feel the pain I felt. At the same time, I do like your current companion; she was the perfect person... She wouldn't give way easily, you know? I would have loved t-"
"Enough!" Clara jumped when he shouted. The TARDIS obeyed and turned the screen to the default galaxy screensaver. The girl could hardly breathe. Her eyes were brimming with tears, threatening to trickle down her face.
"You shouldn't have stopped it." At the same time, she thanked God he did. Seeing the torturer's face, hearing his voice almost made her act up. Clara swiftly dried her eyes with the back of her hand, letting out a shaky sigh.
"You've already heard more than enough." His voice was stern, but he wasn't angry at her. "Go back to your room." He turned to the TARDIS. "And next time this stupid machine should mind its own business!"
"It was about me. I have a right to-"
"Do as you are told."
"I'm not a toddler, Doctor! It is my right to know what he said about me."
"And it is my duty to protect you."
"From what?"
"From-" He stopped. He couldn't get himself to say it.
"Doctor." She insisted. "From what?"
He hesitated, he finally said it in a low voice, almost as if hesitant to break the silence.
Or too scared to think about it.
"From killing you. He..." The Doctor wiped his lips in agitation. "He wanted to torture you until he kills you. Until I would be left with nothing to fight for. Nothing to defend. I heard him before we left. He had a whole plan devised, Clara." The Doctor walked to the central console, placing 2 hands on it.
"We've had other times, Doctor. We escaped like other times."
He shook his head. "Clara..."
"Don't Clara me, Doctor. We've been through this before. We get into trouble, but you always fix it."
"No, Clara. I can't always do the impossible. I don't know what dangers might lay ahead." He sighed. "We can't keep on doing this, Clara."
.
She took a step back. "W-What do you mean?"
Silence. He had to do what he had to do. "I can't let you travel with me on the TARDIS. Or anyone. This is a risk I take and I take alone."
"I won't." The companion could solely muster, her feeble body shaking. "I can't stay here and pretend I cannot go outside."
"Clara-"
"You promised you wouldn't leave!" She was trembling now. "You promised you wouldn't abandon me!"
"Things change, Clara." He said whilst tapping in the coordinates to her apartment.
"You being a liar doesn't change though." She spat.
He stopped, pointing his index finger at her. "I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Nowhere is ever safe, Doctor!"
He was fighting against the buttons now. "You almost got killed."
"I'm still alive!"
"No. No... I won't be risking your life anymore."
"I don't care!"
"I do!"
"But-"
"Go to your room and take what you need."
.
She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. He could barely hear her voice. "I'm not leaving you." Before he could muster another word, she continued. "Please, Doctor... Please let me stay."
He sighed, walking towards her bearing the saddest, most heartbroken expression she had ever seen him. "I'm doing this because I can't bear seeing you dead in front of me. I'm doing this to protect you."
"You're doing this because you're an egoistic bastard-"
"Clara..."
"-who prefers silencing his conscience rather than compromising!"
"Compromising is impossible when it comes to life and death, Clara."
She ground her teeth. "What you said about me being that important to you... You confessed... You..." She hiccuped. "It meant nothing?!"
"Of course not, I-"
"If it were, you wouldn't kick me out." She shouted, before letting out an uneasy sarcastic chuckle. "But that is what you do, right? First give false hope-"
"It's not-"
"-then you strip that hope away from them." She placed her palm to her forehead. "I should have seen it coming."
He reached out to her, trying to touch her elbows with his sandpaper palms. The time lord was desperate to calm her down so she could see his point of view. But before he could, she took a step back, shaking her head. "I'm sorry." She retreated to her room.
A/N: I had been planning this twist for soo long and it's finally posted! What did you think of it? And would love to have some feedback on this story; are you enjoying it? are you bored of it? Feedback is my motivation!
I would also like to apologise for not posting anything Halloween themed (even if this is technically Whumptober but it ain't spooky enough) but I promise I have a multichapter wip (which I'm excited about) which I may be posting in November/ December. Still, I think it would be a bit strange to post it after Halloween. What do you think? Would you like to read it? (it'll have villains, whump, angst and, once again, torture) Would love to know your thoughts!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay safe and lots of love xxxxx