This one took soo looong to conclude! Writer's block is no joke. And annoying. Very annoying. But I finally got this done! So. Enjoy people.
Mental Arts Against the Devil
Harriet didn't know if she hated or loved the 'random' option.
If she said loved it would mean she enjoyed the uncomfortable or downright hostile places they landed on. Sure, sometimes it was fun. It's just… did it have to be that all the time? They stumbled across trouble thirty percent of the time either way. Then again, if she hated it… that would mean she didn't like helping the people they came across. Which just wasn't true.
In the end it was a weird love/hate relationship.
Right now she kind of hated it. Because of course the TARDIS would land them on a planet with no atmosphere and inside a sanctuary base that has no contact with other people. Oh, and there was a black hole sucking things in up there.
And wasn't that strange? In her world black holes didn't suck things in. If the sun suddenly turned into a black hole Earth would've still orbited it normally. Things just would've been, well, freezing. She'd heard enough science talk about astronomy from Verde, Hayato, Shoichi and Spanner to know that.
It was kind of amusing to watch the Doctor splutter at that tidbit of her world after she voiced her confusion.
The reason she was despairing the use of random though was because there had been ancient and powerful runes found on the planet. And now Toby, the group's archeologist, was shaking on the floor and struggling against an ancient being trying to possess him. From where, she had no idea. She just knew she'd have to stop it. Preferably with the Doctor. He had stronger mental shields and was way better at anything doing with telepathy.
He was next to her, screwdriver out and scanning the state of the archeologist.
"Doctor? I'm going to try and force it out", she said carefully.
The Doctor's expression was unreadable as he looked at his scans. He took a deep breath and nodded jerkily.
"Be careful, Harry", he ordered, "This one… It's powerful. I'll pull you out if it gets too much"
A ghost of a smile flickered on her lips as she nodded before looking straight into Toby's eyes that were switching madly between their normal color and red. The Doctor trusted her in this. It felt good after being… somewhat coddled after dying in front of him. Not that she could really blame the Time Lord.
"Legilimens!"
She blinked as she found herself inside a destroyed landscape. Dark swirls of pure malice and hatred curled their way inwards and wove their way inside nooks and corners, tearing at it. The mind was in sheer agony. But still fighting. Futilely. She narrowed her eyes and pulled her shields tighter over herself. She'd been noticed. The beast's presence was now circling her like a cat that found food and was considering playing with it.
Harriet's eyes narrowed further, mental defences up and shielding her tightly. They were ready to lash out at the beast…
She found herself in the precarious position of being played with like cat food. Her attacks and magic only just protected her from the immense presence that reminded her of the TARDIS and the Doctor but much, much more malicious and evil. The avatar of maliciousness and evil actually. Only her bonds that surged to her protection saved her from being decimated, not that it would've been possible for forever. She'd just have to come back. Again. But that would mean Toby died. Mind reaching out to the Doctor she placed her most ingenious and tricky protections (rune barriers and Mist Flames and Flame barriers and magic) around a piece of Toby she'd been fighting with and shielding and felt her friend pull her out of danger.
The immortal snapped into her body, releasing a low growl of anger and slight helplessness. She wasn't strong enough to do this. The Doctor wouldn't be strong enough for… whatever that was. But there had to be a way to go through. A way to-
Oh. Of course. There was a way.
Harry's eyes turned to the Doctor and she saw the same understanding and panic in his eyes. She didn't panic. She was just accepting, like true Skies were for their Elements. Her lips stretched into a smile.
"I accept you, Doctor. Okay?", she told him clearly with no room for misunderstandings, Sky Flames and magic backing her words, "Family sticks together"
He grit his teeth, fear and longing and the desire to save a life warring between him before he reached out and placed his hands on her temples. The witch closed her eyes, mental shields lowering for him and Flames surging up towards the link they were creating. It was both same and different from her other bonds that were thrumming in the forefront of her mind, accepting this new one and helping it settle.
Warmth washed through them, Harry smoothing out the desperation and apprehension flowing through her friend and embracing the lonely parts. All encompassing Sky. She felt his mind, a little aloof and at the same time clinging. A desire to have control over every situation and at the same time not. Contradictions and conflicting ideals, ideas, and it was so wide and churning at all times.
A bone deep old rage that roiled and a fury that could scorch galaxies. Caring and compassion surpassing human emotion and feelings that were fleeting, others that stayed for a long while, some permanent and at his core. Wariness. Weariness. Closed off, afraid to get close. Open in ways he thought he could afford but then couldn't and yet did. Things that made sense, others that didn't at all, childish curiosity, wonder, wildness, caginess, pride, overwhelming guilt and yet to be snuffed hope. Old and youth, young and ancient. Layers upon layers upon layers upon layers. Completely alien. Yet not enough to not feel humane.
She accepted it all.
He… He accepted her.
With trepidation, weariness, and longing so great you could drown in it. He searched her, looking if he could trust her with himself. She let him strip her bare. He looked at the parts of her she wasn't so proud of, the parts of her she didn't like existed, the core of her that she was glad did exist and… accepted. Some he didn't like, just as some she didn't, but he accepted it. Her core, her very self, he accepted with open arms and an open mind after finding how much she cared. She knew her very being cared. So much it hurt sometimes. Saving people thing indeed. Just like he had.
Harry hadn't noticed when her eyes had opened, a blazing orange hue in her irises. The Doctor was staring at her with open wonder, just like she him.
The link was much more… intense than her original bonds. Those bonds that were twining around their newest family member. They conveyed just emotion and feelings, sometimes brief thoughts at their most. Synchronization in battle. This had been a brief connecting of themselves, their minds as one. Not quite anything either had ever had before. Yet it felt just the same for Harriet and new for the Doctor.
Like coming home.
She smiled, hand reaching up to touch his and he brushed some of her messy curls away with the other. Her mind dug up a memory, the memory of all the times her and her Elements fought together. Synchronization. His sharp and terrifyingly efficient mind digested it in a millisecond, other parts configuring up plans, countermeasures, moves of the enemy at the same speed, as well as the emotional side of things, and Harry finally understood how utterly brilliant and alien he was.
His brain worked different aspects, plans, thoughts, emotions, movements, irrelevant stuff, and minor things at the same time which had to be the pinnacle of multitasking. Not that she could make sense of it, just get the general feeling of what was going on. She felt that there was much more to it then that too.
Right now they were separate, yet together as one. It was a confusing feeling to both, more so to the Doctor who hadn't had Flame bonds at all. No bonds of his had been quite like this, not even the one with the TARDIS.
It was exactly what Harry had said. Family. It felt like family.
They turned to Toby's writhing form as one and forced their way back in. The TARDIS' song was muted as she was far away but they were all here. Three beings working together to protect the man who had accidentally meddled in forces he had no hope of winning against. Not alone. They had to commend him for his stubbornness though. The defences Harry had left were still there, if barely. The mind however… It was a wasteland. It would have to be fixed up a little until it started healing, if it could be healed.
The beast turned on them, a massive presence that could cow almost everything. They weren't almost everything.
Hissed promises, threats, overwhelming malice. It was nothing to them. Nothing to the new bond they all shared. The beast was baited and thrown out, it's sturdy roots and footholds mercilessly removed from the fragile human mind that was opposite of Harriet's fortified strength of will.
Only thing worth worrying over was that the beast felt weak. Not at full power. Like something was holding it back and that prison was close to snapping. The beast felt infuriated with them and swore revenge.
They started healing the worst damage with Harry following the Doctor's lead and put runic defences and shields all around. It became a protective bubble.
Toby would be okay now, if shaky and probably suffering from some memory loss.
Harry and the Doctor withdrew and let the synchronization slowly dissipate, leaving them blinking as the bond fell into a… not really background noise, it was much too strong for that, but away from the center of their being. It was left pulsing and stable and liberating in the front of their minds but not the forefront.
They stared at each other in awe, and in the Doctor's case a little uncertainty and more than a little relief. Harry was just amazed and happy. Very, very happy.
"Whoa…!", she whispered breathlessly, "It's never been that intense and we never knew that much about the other. Telepathy is amazing. You're amazing!"
"It was a partial mind-meld", the Doctor explained, flabbergasted, "But with emotions, not full on minds. I- I can still feel what you feel!"
Harry laughed, "That's what a Flame bond usually does. Ours just feels more because it's based on a telepathic link"
She could feel how the Doctor's mind was whirling and churning, constantly moving and doing something. Like the universe. Vast and had so much more space to process things than her own. It was only because she was immortal and had magic that she could withstand it. As it was she'd probably be paralyzed for at least three days if they had tried a true mind-meld.
Luckily synchronization worked differently, concentrating more on shared instincts than thoughts.
It was why the ex-Arcobaleno fighting together was such an effective and mildly (okay, no, it was highly) terrifying thing. Her other bonds flared in agreement, making her smile widen.
Then she turned serious, "Doctor. A bond needs some time to settle. We won't like being apart at all for a week or so. Even then it will feel… odd"
He frowned, examining that thought, and mentally recoiled at the idea of not being in Harriet's vicinity. Of course he could do it but he would hate every minute of it. His control over his own mind would assure that it wouldn't show on the outside as other than mild constant irritation but… the feeling would be maddening.
Huh. Okay, no separating then.
That… might be a problem when they had the beast to deal with. A thing that called itself the devil. Though maybe it wasn't a big problem. Harry and him did make an effective team.
xXXx
Some time later they had the ood slaves rescued from mental attacks, an unbreakable self-oxygenating magic bubble that they took outside to get to the TARDIS who had for some reason decided to drop into the center of the planet, Ida Scott at the bottom of the place with them, a 'bottomless' hole they jumped into because of course their TARDIS would be there, a meeting with the beast that called himself the devil of every religion ever, and a legitimate reason to dump the whole planet into the black hole.
Luckily the crew didn't protest on that one. Having one of their own mind-raped was enough deterrent. Harry and the Doctor still made sure they got out of the black hole's range before drifting off to the time vortex. They had a new bond to experiment with.
xXXx
Yeeeah, the whole thing was an excuse for the Doctor to agree to the bond. Ehehe. Sorry not sorry. And (truly sorry) but this fic (and likely every other fic of mine) has really irregular updates. I've too many projects going on at the same time! As well as all the writer's blocks. Sigh. Hopefully you enjoyed.