Shivering.
Shuddering.
The world was shaking.
No. i She /i was shaking.
Tegan lifted up her head. The cool, featureless forest floor stretched away before her, soaking into the blacknes around her.
She was back in the forest of pools… of darkness and reflection. Of worlds that birthed and died in stagnant puddles-
No. She remembered now. She'd been drifting, drifting in space, away through the cosmos, away from the Doctor, away from the Nothing.
She remembered remembering:
Of stumbling out of the warehouse by the river, the acrid stench of Dalek pus and offal running in the streets of London, steaming as the rain trickled down the sides of the buildings.
Of the endless stretches of time it took her to get back home, of sitting at the rear end of the aircraft, a Qantas blanket tucked under her chin as she numbly watched the world crawl past below her. Of surfing on couches and back rooms, cursing herself for not having a bank account, her passport or even the necklace her mother had left her that sat in her room on the TARDIS, so far away.
Of frustrating hours writing up a CV, trying to explain where she'd been for the last four years, of her failed career as an airline hostess. Of waiting tables, again. And again.
It had taken her six years to work her way up as sales manager. Six years of mindless, stupid, meaningless work. Exhausting, frustrating work. Eventually, she'd met Daniel, solid, reliable, huggable Daniel. And Tegan vowed to never be left stranded, to be left poor and homeless, ever, ever again.
And then the TARDIS had landed on her doorstep one evening, blue and eager, like a child, waiting for her to come out and play. She'd stepped inside, without a thought, without a breath, not caring of all the people, her friends, or even Daniel. She just let it drop away, let the past six years fall away from her and she let this stupid, insane world take her gratefully. Again. Third time's a charm.
And then she died...
She felt herself drift then, back in the void, after the blackness had come to claim her, come to blot out the moons and stars. Felt herself dissipate, dissolve, her thoughts stretched thin and tight, her memories crying out into the blackness, demanding to be remembered, to be heard, to be mourned. But she was gone, then, so far gone… it was over. And she didn't even really care anymore.
And she was gone.
Then an ache, a tugging, viscous wrench, familiar and angry and pouting-
And she was here.
Now, on the forest floor, the ground was solid beneath her fingers as it had not been before and the trees were sharper in their stead, their bark smooth, their limbs graceful and dendritic against the vacant sky.
Everything seemed more real suddenly.
Tegan had a flash of a tropical sun, of blood in her mouth, of salty waves and something familiar filling her, Rapa…- and then it too was gone.
She turned on her side. The alien was there, opposite her, where the Doctor had been once, in this place beyond time. It was staring at the pools again.
Something inside her kicked: she wasn't going to play, she wasn't going to look, it was foolish and childish and for the love of all that was holy, she was not going to look into that damn po-
Oh.
She could focus now. On everything. On a mountain range on a distant world. On a million different worlds; she could see them all. She could see galaxies and ants in a single glance. Zooming in and out in an instant to wherever she cast her eyes. Nothing was beyond her vision. The vertigo was indescribable. But she swallowed it down and concentrated.
She could see things… no, more than that, she could see through their eyes, experience what they felt, heard, smelt… It was too much. She jerked her head up and stared at the sky above her, dark and empty. She could handle empty.
In her quick glimpses, she'd been able to see the universe dying, obliterated, a swipe at a time. She'd seen Earth, its crusted husk encircling a bloated sun, plasma streaking out of gaping solar wounds. And slithering through the void, gleefully devouring the outer Jovian worlds, was a horrible snake of impossible size.
Her child. Her monster.
Tegan steeled herself then, her fists clenched and quaking, and gathered every bit of rage that burned inside her at the thing that had killed her, had ruined her world and her friends… and she made herself look again.
And this is what she saw: