A/N: Many thanks go to grapejuice101 for ideas and reading through my chapters and kind criticizing of my writing. I'm sorry this took so long to do, but college takes up so much time and I also had to split the chapter in half because it was over 20,000 words for the entire episode. This way it's only 12,000 words.
I'm sorry if there are mistakes. It's 1 in the morning and I have music theory at 8 tomorrow, so I'm in a bit of a rush.
I pulled my hands away from my face and looked around, finding myself in a familiar console room that I had seen only a week ago. My tears faded away when I turned around and saw the Doctor on the second level, sitting at his chair with his nose in a book. Joy flooded through me to see him as his normal self again.
I had never been quite so happy to see the Doctor and I didn't think I ever would. The few minutes I had spent with the Valeyard had scared and hurt me and all I wanted then was to have the Doctor back. I wanted to run to him and let him comfort me like he had so many times before, but I didn't know Twelve as well as the others. From what he himself had told me, he was a different man in his most recent incarnation. Clara had even said he was colder and more detached. What would that mean for us?
"I can hear you," he suddenly said in smooth, calm voice. "What's wrong?"
"Doctor," I whispered. My throat suddenly felt very dry and my voice was thin and scratchy. "I-I…"
He peered around the edge of his leather chair with a confused and extremely worried expression. "Diana? What's wrong?"
I shook my head and swallowed the cry that was stuck in my throat. I started a million different sentences in my head, but none of them could possibly tell him what I wanted to say or how I felt.
Hurt. Betrayed. Scared. Alone. I took a slow, shaky breath and felt my shoulders drop. Rejected. I feel… rejected. He didn't want me. I thought-…
"Diana?"
The Doctor's voice was suddenly soft and worried, more so than it had been before. I blinked rapidly for a moment and snapped out of my trance. Then I noticed that the Doctor had come down to the first level while I was lost in my thoughts and he was standing a few feet away from me.
"Love, what's wrong?"
A surge of desperation and desire for comfort surged through my body and I fell forward. I buried my head in his neck, my nose rubbing against his pulse point, and wrapped my arms around his torso. "Just let me hug you," I mumbled.
"Diana, love, I-I don't think I'm the hugging sort this time 'round."
"Please," I whispered, my voice cracking slightly.
The Doctor realized immediately that something was wrong and he let his arms fall around my hips. I sniffled and closed my eyes so that I could block the tears. Everything with the Valeyard had happened so quickly and the Valeyard himself had played with my emotions to the point where I felt almost sick.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor breathed into my hair. "Whatever happened, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Really, it's okay. Just…" I shook my head and tightened my arms around his neck. "Don't ever change."
"Erm… Well, I'm going to have to regenerate at some point-"
"No, I don't mean that. I mean, don't change."
"O-Okay…"
He fell silent then, but kept his hands at my waist. I nudged my nose against his throat and pulled myself closer to his chest. I needed reassurance, a touch or a word, something that would tell me that he didn't hate me yet because the thought that he could hate me hurt me more than anything ever could.
My eyes fluttered open after a long time and I saw that the lights had dimmed. The TARDIS was humming lightly, the tone of her whirring almost worried. I glanced up at the ceiling and flashed a quick smile before burying my head in the Doctor's neck again.
I felt his hands shift awkwardly from my hips to a point just slightly higher on my torso. His shoulders were stiff and I could see his vein pulsing right above his eyebrow. He looked uncomfortable and nervous and instantly a flash of guilt ran through me.
I immediately pulled out of his arms, staring at the ground so he wouldn't see the disappointment on my face. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"No, no, it's… it's fine."
I shook my head and forced a smile onto my face. "I'm sorry." Slowly, I started to back away with my arms hanging loosely at my sides. "I'll just-… I need to-…"
"Diana," the Doctor began with a gentle tone, "you forget that I've been married to you for over a thousand years now. I know what you need, when you need it." I let my eyes slide up his figure to meet his and I saw the genuine concern and caring in his eyes. "Come here."
I took a cautious step forward, pausing for a moment to search his eyes for hesitation and when I found nothing, I rushed forward and curled myself into his chest. His arms came around my waist and cradled me against him and his chin rested on the crown of my head. My eyes slid closed and I sighed contentedly. The warmth of his body, the feel of his arms around me, the soothing pulse of his hearts beating all made me feel safe. I felt at home.
I stumbled into the kitchen with a yawn the next day, rubbing grains of sleep from my eyes. The Doctor was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. He glanced up at me and I noticed the corners of his mouth quirk up for a moment.
"Sleep well?"
I yawned again and nodded. "Yeah. I feel a lot better than before."
"Good."
I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and grabbed a banana, then sat down across the table from the Doctor. He kept his eyes trained on his mug of tea, but would occasionally glance up at me every minute.
"Sorry," I mumbled while I started peeling my banana. "About last night… or yesterday or whenever it was."
The Doctor stared seriously into my eyes. "Why are you sorry?" he questioned.
I shrugged and took a small bite of the banana. "You said you weren't a hugging person anymore."
"Diana, for you I can be anything."
His response made me blush and I quickly looked away so he wouldn't see how flustered I felt. I took a few more bites of the banana and then went back to my cereal, which had gone soggy. When I finished all of my food, I stood up and placed my dishes in the sink.
"So, um, what are we doing today?" I asked as I started to run warm water into the sink.
"Whatever you want." He pushed himself away from the table and moved to lean against the counter beside me. "We can go anywhere, do anything. It's up to you."
I glanced at his mug and noticed that it was empty. "You done with that or…?" He wordlessly pushed the mug across the counter so that it was sitting on the edge of the counter. "Thanks."
"So?" he asked after a few moments of silence between us. "Where would you like to go?"
I looked up at him, pausing my cleaning of the dishes for a second. I smiled thoughtfully and leaned against the sink. "Well… Now, I don't know where you are or what's happened, but I was wondering… Could we go see Clara?"
"Doctor, what did I tell you about materializing in here?"
I leaned against the TARDIS doors and waited for the schoolteacher to appear. She walked around the corner of the hallway and stopped mid-step when she saw me. I smiled a little shyly and waved at her across the hall.
"Hey, Clara."
Her lips broke out into a smile and she rushed forward, throwing her arms around me a in a warm hug. I returned the embrace happily and laughed a little. I was slightly surprised that she was so glad to see me, but welcomingly accepted her greeting.
"How are you?" she asked me once she pulled back.
"Okay," I replied with a shrug. "Been jumping around a lot lately. Nothing new, I suppose."
Clara glanced past me into the TARDIS and nodded at the Doctor, who was standing by the console and waiting patiently. Then she stepped past me and into the ship, glancing up at the ceiling. I closed the doors behind me and hurried after the teacher.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Oswald," the Doctor said invitingly.
"Where are we going?" Clara asked, leaning her hip against the console as the Doctor sent the ship into the vortex.
"Wherever Diana would like to go," the Time Lord responded.
I flushed when our eyes met and felt my stomach erupt into a fit of butterflies. His eyes were a mix of blue, gray, and very light green in the light coming from the time rotor. I smiled at him and felt my heart thud against my ribcage when he briefly smiled back.
Feeling increasingly flustered by the second, I turned and smiled a little awkwardly at Clara. "You can choose, Clara," I told her softly. "I don't mind."
"You sure?"
"Oh, yeah. Go ahead." I then noticed the Doctor climbing up the stairs at the back end of the console room. He walked towards a large chalkboard and started to write with a piece of white chalk. "Whatever you want, Clara."
I silently walked past her, my eyes trained on the Doctor as his hand flew furiously across the board. I didn't recognize most of the patterns or writings on the board, but I recognized a few things as circular Gallifreyan or a form of math. As I walked up the stairs, I also noticed the massive amounts of bookshelves that encircled the room and was reminded of Eight's TARDIS.
"So, what are you writing?" I asked, leaning my back against the railing that went around the entire second floor.
"Things."
"Hm. Yes. Indeed." I pushed off of the railing and stepped up beside the Doctor, crossing my arms over my chest. "That is definitely a thing. Would you care to explain the thing?"
"Not at the moment."
"Oh." I pushed off of his arm and walked around him to stand in front of the bookcase next to his blackboard. "Well then I'll just stand here and watch you."
The Doctor paused writing for a moment, sparing me a brief glance over his shoulder before turning back to his work. For a few minutes the only sound in the room was that of the chalk against the board and our breaths. Clara was sitting in a twirly chair by the console and fiddling with a few of the dials and levers that wouldn't affect the current flight.
"So then, Clara Oswald," the Doctor began as he continued writing on his chalkboard. "Take a punt. Where would you like to go? Your choice. Wherever, whenever, anywhere in time and space."
I watched Clara as she stood up from the chair and started to walk around the console.
"Well, there is something, someone that I've always wanted to meet." She chewed on her thumbnail and looked up at the Doctor. "But I know what you'll say, Doctor."
"Try me," he responded.
Clara sighed. "You'll say he's made up, that there is no such thing."
The Doctor placed his piece of chalk on the edge of the board, then turned around to lean against the railing and stare down at the girl. He smiled slightly and folded his arms over the railing. "Go on," he urged.
"It's..." She smiled and jumped in excitement. "It's Robin Hood!"
"Robin Hood," he repeated in amusement.
Clara rushed up the stairs to meet us on the second floor and I went to stand beside the Doctor so I could watch the young woman bounce in excitement. "Yeah, I love that story," she beamed. "I've always loved it, ever since I was little."
"Robin Hood," the Doctor repeated with a smirk. "The heroic outlaw who robs from the rich and gives to the poor."
"Yeah."
I watched the Doctor's face, wondering if Robin Hood was in fact a real person. He had met Marco Polo and Shakespeare and HG Wells, so why couldn't Robin Hood be next on the list? But the Time Lord seemed to not be as enthusiastic about meeting the famous bowman.
"He's made up. There's no such thing," he said as he turned away from Clara to focus on his chalkboard again.
"Aw, you see?" Clara whined in disappointment.
The Doctor reached past the chalkboard for a book on his bookcase and pulled it down, looking up and down the spine. He flipped the cover open and thumbed through some of the first few pages as he spoke. "Old-fashioned heroes only exist in old-fashioned story books, Clara," he replied.
"And what about you?" she questioned softly.
"Me?"
Clara glanced at me as the Doctor turned his back on both of us. "Yeah, you. You stop bad things happening every minute of every day. That sounds pretty heroic to me."
I turned to look at the Doctor, even though he was partially facing away from me, and watched in silence as he picked up a small bowl of something from a waist height table. He took the spoon out of the bowl and licked the food off of it. Clara and I waited for him to respond and I guessed that he was trying to find a way to avoid answer the statement. He had never felt like a hero and being called one most likely made him uncomfortable.
"Just passing the time," he finally said. Then he replaced the bowl on the table and suddenly spun on his heels. "Hey, what about Mars?"
"What?" Clara shouted incredulously.
The Doctor skipped past both of us with his spoon clutched excitedly in his hand. "The Ice Warrior Hives!" he exclaimed.
"You said it was my choice!"
"Actually, I said it was Diana's choice," he replied without missing a beat. "Oh! Or the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light. Those girls can hold their drink."
"Girls?" I repeated under my breath. I'm not jealous, I told myself. Absolutely not jealous.
Clara sighed in exasperation. "Doctor."
"And fracture fifteen different levels of reality simultaneously." He started walking down the steps to the first level with Clara and I right behind him. "I think I've got a Polaroid somewhere," he continued as he started patting down his coat pockets.
"Doctor!" said in a firm teacher voice. The Doctor stopped by the console. "My choice. Robin Hood. Show me."
The Time Lord sighed. "Very well," he finally said as he started to type the coordinates into the computer. "Earth. England. Sherwood Forest. 1190 AD. Ish. But you'll only be disappointed."
He pulled the dematerialization lever down and the TARDIS whirred loudly. Clara grinned and clapped her hands together in excitement. Then she turned to me and grabbed me by the wrist.
"Clara, what- ah!"
The teacher had started to drag me off into the corridor. "Wardrobe," she replied quickly.
There was a section of the wardrobe dedicated to historical attire and Clara was beyond thrilled to dress me up in period clothing. The TARDIS had already picked out a small collection of twelfth century dresses for us and set them apart from the rest of the clothes.
"Oh, look at these," she gasped. "They're so beautiful."
Among the dresses was a gorgeous midnight blue gown with long, billowing sleeves and accented with a silver rope belt and silver embroidery along the hem of the collar and sleeves. I was immediately drawn to it and pulled it off of its hanger, holding it against my chest with a faint smile.
"Diana, you would look stunning in that."
I glanced up from the dress with a grin. "You think so?"
She reached out and trailed a finger along the scooped neckline. "It suits you," she said gently. "Why don't you go try it on?"
"Okay."
I hurried into the dressing room and quickly shed my clothes to put the historical undergarments on, then pulling the dress on over the shift. The dress was snug around my hips and bust, which made me feel a little uncomfortable and nervous. However when I stepped out to show Clara how I looked, she clapped her hands together enthusiastically.
"You look like a dream."
I blushed a little. "Well thanks, but don't you think it's a little tight?"
"No, no. It's perfect." She reached forward and fingered a strand of my hair. "Although we need to do something with your hair."
"Like what?"
"Curls."
"Oh, I don't know," I replied skeptically. "It'll take a while, Clara."
"This is a time machine."
I shook my head. "No, really. It's okay. But thanks. Maybe next time."
I left Clara to go in search of the Doctor and to let the woman look for her own dress. The TARDIS flashed her lights when I walked into the console room and hummed. Confused, I looked up at the ceiling and smiled.
"What is it, Sexy?"
One of the levers on the console flipped back and forth by my hand, drawing my attention. I smiled when I saw the silver hairclip I had worn at Christmastime sitting on the console by the lever. I reached out for the clip and tucked it into my hair, fondly remembering that day as if it were yesterday.
When he danced with me and sang in my ear… I sighed happily. I'd do anything to have that again.
I patted my hands over my hair and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in my dress. "Alright, Sexy. Here goes nothing."
She let out a high-pitched whir and opened the doors for me. I saw a flash of red and black outside and knew immediately that it was the Doctor. I stepped out and closed the door behind me.
"So, did we land in the right time and everything?" I questioned, keeping my eyes trained on the ground so as not to trip over any branches. "Sorry I took so long. Clara was fangirling and trying to do my hair and I just wasn't up for tha-." I stopped mid sentence when I looked up from the ground and saw a man wearing all green standing on a log bridge. A smile spread across my face and I rushed over to the Doctor's side, grabbing his hand and jumping a little in excitement. "Oh my G-… Is that… Robin Hood?"
"Of course not, Diana."
"But it looks like him!"
The Doctor scoffed. "Stop looking at him," he grumbled. "He feeds off attention."
I glanced up at him and grinned. "You would know," I teased. Then I faced Robin Hood again and squeaked in excitement. "He's very… Well quite honestly, he's attractive."
"Oi!"
"Don't worry," I laughed. "You're still my wonderful Scottish Doctor."
"Hmph." The Doctor suddenly stepped back and looked over my dress. "Don't you think that's a little fancy?"
"The TARDIS picked it out for me. Do you like it?" I twirled in place, letting my skirt fan out around my knees and flashing the Time Lord a view of my stocking clad ankles. "It feels sort of tight on my chest and stomach and I'm not sure how I like that."
Before the Doctor could reply, the TARDIS door creaked open and Clara jumped out. "Might be a little bit much, but what do you reckon, Doctor?" she asked, her breath catching in her throat when she spotted Robin Hood behind us.
"By all the saints," the bowman gasped. "Are there any more in there?"
"Is that-?"
"No," the Doctor sighed in annoyance.
"Oh, my God," she gushed in excitement. Her hands flew up to cup her mouth and she actually bounced in place. "Oh, my God! It is, isn't it? You found him. You actually found Robin Hood."
"That is not Robin Hood," the Doctor grumbled as he glared at the man in green.
"Well then, who, sir, is about to relieve you of your magic box?" the man exclaimed as he drew his sword and pointed it at the Doctor.
I gasped and recoiled into the Doctor's torso. He stepped in front of me, his arm extended over my stomach. Then the Doctor, a frown on his face and his head held high, walked out onto the log bridge. Clara lifted the hem of her dress and walked behind us to the edge of the river to see better. I followed the teacher and stood next to her, wondering how the Doctor would handle the situation.
"Nobody, sir," the Time Lord retorted smoothly. "Not in this universe or the next."
The man who I already believed to be Robin Hood raised an eyebrow. "Well then, draw your sword and prove your words."
"I have no sword." The Doctor unbuttoned his coat and spread the flaps open as he turned in a circle so that everyone could see he was unarmed. "I don't need a sword. Because I am the Doctor."
I smiled and felt just a little bit giddy when the Doctor pulled a black leather glove out from his pants pocket and pulled it on. I noticed that his middle finger stayed extended a little longer than his other fingers as he slipped the glove on and I wondered if he had done that on purpose.
"And this," he continued as he reached into his coat pocket, "is my spoon! En garde!"
Robin lunged forward with his sword and the Doctor lifted his spoon to block the blow. I was surprised, impressed, and worried all at once, hoping the Doctor wouldn't get himself injured. Robin was of course a remarkable swordsman, but I was surprised to see that the Doctor could hold his own against the man claiming to be a legend. Then the Doctor and Robin stepped past one another on the narrow bridge, the Doctor smacking his opponent on the neck with his spoon.
"Ow!" Robin cried as he rubbed the back of his neck.
The Doctor merely smiled proudly. He quickly glanced at me and when the other man lunged forward with another blow, the Time Lord easily parried it while still maintaining eye contact.
"You're amazing!" Clara commented, obviously as impressed as I was.
"I've had some experience!" he shouted over the clanging of spoon against sword. "Richard the Lionheart. Cyrano de Bergerac. Errol Flynn." I scoffed at that one, not sure if he was telling the truth or just saying that to sound impressive. "He had the most enormous-"
Clara glanced at me with raised eyebrows, obviously thinking the same thing I was. "Ahem," we said simultaneously.
"Ego!"
I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what you were gonna say."
"Takes one to know one," Clara said under her breath with a laugh.
They passed one another on the bridge again and the Doctor smacked his spoon against Robin's rear, smirking devilishly the entire time. Clara and I both laughed and the Doctor beamed at our response.
Robin made a sound of annoyance in the back of his throat and shook his head. "Oh, you," he growled as he flicked his sword and cut a button off of the Doctor's coat.
I gasped, worried that maybe the sword had cut through the Doctor's shirt. He quickly grasped his coat and looked down at the spot where his button had once been, then slowly brought his eyes up to meet Robin's. I breathed a sigh of relief once I realized that he was alright, but noticed the suddenly angry and almost possessive expression on the Doctor's face.
"Oh, dear," I mumbled. "Angry Doctor."
Standing tall and proud, the Doctor extended his arms on either side of his body and lifted his chin as if to challenge his opponent to strike him down. Robin was confused for just a moment and then lunged forward with his sword. I stepped forward and screamed when the Doctor didn't move at first. Then he suddenly twisted on his toes and used the spoon to deflect the blow so that Robin's sword slid right past him without hurting him. The two men were back to back on the log with the Doctor facing Clara and I. He smirked and used his weight to push the bowman off of the log and into the water.
I immediately ran onto the bridge to check on the Time Lord, my skirts clutched tightly in my hands. I gazed up at him in worry and extended my hand to his chest, looking for any signs that the sword had gone through his clothing.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." When I continued looking over his chest, the Doctor lightly gripped my right wrist in his left hand and caught my gaze. "Diana, I'm alright."
I hadn't noticed that Clara had followed me until I heard her voice behind me. "Doctor, are you-? That was… That was incredible!"
The Doctor released my hand and started polishing his spoon on his coat sleeve. He glanced into the water with a smug expression and said, "Like I said. My box."
I smiled and gazed up at him in admiration. "That was amazing," I said softly.
He looked down at me and smirked. "Yes, I was rather good, wasn't I?"
Clara reached out and tapped me on the arm. "Um, you two?" she asked in a worried tone as she stared into the river.
The Doctor leaned forward to look into the water and I followed suit. I started to open my mouth, intending to suggest that we jump in and search for the bowman, when the Doctor suddenly fell forward. The Doctor desperately reached for something to keep him from falling, and so I was dragged into the cold river along with him. I gasped a moment before I fell in with him, accidentally swallowing some of the cold river water.
Less than five seconds later, I felt the Doctor's arms around my waist and he lifted me out of the water. I spit out the most likely germ infested water and then turned to face the Doctor with his arms still around my waist. The Doctor was frowning again and I could see that he was already extremely annoyed with the man who claimed to be Robin Hood.
Then his hand was by my face, pushing the wet hair out of my eyes. I quickly turned my gaze to him and smiled a little. Water was dripping down my nose, chin, and neck and I could feel the dress pinning to my every curve. One quick glance over the Doctor's body showed me that his shirt and pants were also clinging to his skin and that he was probably as uncomfortable as I was.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
I smiled. "Of course."
Robin was howling with laughter and Clara was giggling behind her hand. The Doctor grumbled something under his breath and stepped away from me, his arms hanging awkwardly at his sides. I looked down at the water rushing past me and grabbed hold of my skirts as I started to walk to the riverbank.
I scrambled out of the water and onto the bank, but was having a difficult time due to the thick skirts tangling around my ankles. Robin suddenly dashed past Clara and ran to my aide, placing his feet firmly apart and extending a hand to me with a very attractive smile. My cheeks flushed and I took his hand so that he could help me keep my balance.
"Excuse me!" the Doctor practically shouted as he clambered up behind me.
He reached for my wrist, pulling my hand out of Robin's and tugging me in his direction. I lost my balance and fell against him with a squeak, the Doctor's arms suddenly coming around my waist and holding me firmly against him.
"I beg your pardon," Robin said simply with a polite nod in my direction. "I was merely helping the young lady out of the river."
"She doesn't need your help, you stocking clad fop."
I started to laugh at the Doctor's comment, but stopped when his arms tightened around my stomach right over my diaphragm. I placed my hands on his wrists and pushed lightly on them to loosen his hold on me.
"A fop? You, sir, are very much mistaken. I am Robin Hood, defender of the poor against the wicked sheriff of Nottingham and all those who follow his path of treachery!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, no one cares," he grumbled as he pushed me forward.
I tripped over the hem of my dress, nearly falling forward and bringing the Doctor with me. Panicking as I started to loose my balance, Robin reached forward to pull me out of the Doctor's arms and held me against his chest while the Doctor essentially faceplanted the grass. Robin let out a long, loud laugh and seemed overall very pleased with himself.
The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet and brushed the dirt and grass off of his soaking wet clothes. He narrowed his eyes at Robin and firmly set his jaw. He extended a hand to me and waited, not saying a single word. I placed my hand in his and like before, he pulled me into his arms.
"Come on, Diana," he grumbled as he glared at Robin Hood. "Why don't we get you back into the TARDIS?"
"O-Okay."
The Doctor was silently fuming when we went back inside the ship. I couldn't help but wonder what had made him dislike the hero so strongly. Robin Hood was a great man, a mostly selfless and courageous man who put the wellbeing of others before his own needs and saved innocent lives from the oppression of the sheriff of Nottingham. He seemed like someone the Doctor would like to be around.
When he reached the wardrobe again, the Doctor pulled me along after him. He found a replica of my dress that had not been there twenty minutes ago and handed it to me. "Here," he mumbled. "Get yourself dried off and put that on."
"What about you?"
"Go," he urged, his tone softer than before. "I'll wait for you."
"But-"
"Go," he urged gently, his face softening for just a moment. His fingers brushed against my forearm and I felt the familiar rush of butterflies in my stomach again before he pulled away. "Go and change. You're making puddles in my wardrobe."
After I changed clothes and dried my hair, the Doctor escorted me out of the TARDIS. He still seemed upset about Robin embarrassing him and pushing him into the river, so I wrapped my arm around his elbow and leaned against his shoulder.
"You okay?" I asked.
The Doctor gazed curiously at me for a moment. "Yes, of course I am," he replied briskly.
"You sure? Is my Time Lord feeling cranky after Robin Hood pushed him into the water?" I teased with a smile.
"Of course I'm feeling 'cranky', as you so eloquently put it. I had Peter Pan over there shove me into the water after I beat him fair and square."
I laughed. "You know, I think you're jealous."
"Jealous? Of that ridiculous fop?" The Doctor scoffed and shook his head. "Ah, no. Definitely not."
"Robin Hood envy," I teased.
"Please. He's annoying and ridiculous and-"
"Robin Hood envy," I whispered in his ear as we approached Clara and Robin by the log bridge.
Clara smiled excitedly when she saw us exit the TARDIS and, taking her skirts in hand, she ran over to us. "He said his men are waiting for him back at their hideout," she exclaimed in a rush.
"No," the Doctor said firmly.
"Doctor, it's Robin Hood."
"Robin Hood is a legend, a hero story to tell your children when they're afraid of the dark, Clara. He's not real."
"But you're real," I whispered.
Clara and the Doctor suddenly looked at me and I felt my cheeks flush. The Doctor's brows furrowed together and he pulled away from me slightly so he could see me better. I cleared my throat and slipped me arm out from its place in the crook of the Doctor's elbow.
"Okay, let's go then," I mumbled awkwardly before walking past the two in Robin's direction.
Robin smiled broadly at me as I stepped closer to him. He extended a hand to me and helped me step onto the bridge. I felt his other hand come around my back and rest lightly on my waist, sending a shiver up my back. I hoped he wasn't flirting with me, even though the mere idea was completely unlikely, because the Doctor already had me extremely flustered. I couldn't handle the one and only Robin Hood leaving me flustered as well.
"Are you ill, my lady?" Robin suddenly asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.
"What? N-No," I stammered. "Why do you ask?"
"Your face is suddenly very flushed."
Oh. I smiled a little shyly at Robin and shook my head. "No, I'm fine. Just embarrassed myself," I murmured.
I had barely set my feet on the riverbank opposite the TARDIS when the Doctor exclaimed loudly. Robin and I both turned and saw the Time Lord running across the bridge, his arms held awkwardly at his sides. He jumped down from the log and landed right in front of me.
"Excuse me," he said roughly, shouldering Robin aside to stand in his place beside me.
Robin looked between us in silence, a somewhat amused expression on his face, before he finally turned away and stepped onto the bridge again to help Clara the rest of the way across. Robin helped Clara down onto the soft grass with a brilliant smile. She brushed the skirt of her dress and sighed.
"So, then. Where are we going?" she asked.
Robin had moved to a fallen tree trunk a few yards away where his bow and quiver were resting in the grass. "My men and I have a hideout farther into the forest," he explained as he picked up his things. "If you have no objection to leaving your strange, magical box here, then we shall start off immediately."
"Actually-"
"No," Clara interjected, elbowing the Doctor in the ribs. "We don't object at all. No objecting here."
"Excellent," Robin replied as he slung his quiver over his shoulder.
The bowman started off into the trees and Clara rushed after him, a large, excited a grin on her face. I stepped forward and was about to walk off when the Doctor suddenly looped an arm around my elbow and pulled me back slightly. I looked up at him in confusion, but he didn't offer me an explanation for his somewhat strange behavior.
"Can we go?" I asked in annoyance.
He gestured to the retreating figures of Clara and Robin and smiled forcibly. "Please."
"You're such a dork sometimes," I mumbled with a roll of my eyes.
"I'm trying not be offended," he responded as we started after our friends.
I sighed in exasperation, but couldn't help smiling just a little. The Doctor then let his arm slide away from mine, but he immediately grabbed my hand instead of letting me go completely.
"Afraid I'm going to disappear on you?" I teased.
"The thought had crossed my mind."
"I only just got here. I don't think I'll leave again that soon," I replied as I stepped over a small fallen tree.
The Doctor hummed in response and offered me his other hand to help me over another tree. "So. Where were you last?" he asked as he pushed some leaves out of his face.
I felt my heart stop for a moment and I gazed up at the Time Lord with a panicked expression. "Uh, where?" He nodded and tried a half smile. "Where? Well, uh… Your first incarnation. We took Susan to that planet with the purple grass. And then the three days after that."
"Yes, I remember. You disappeared after making me tea."
I turned my head away and grimaced. "Yeah. I know," I sighed, thinking about the way the Valeyard had acted towards me as if he despised me. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I just didn't want to leave."
"Are you two coming or what?" Clara suddenly called to us. "You've been laggin' behind the whole time."
I smiled and looked up at the Doctor again, tugging lightly on his hand. "Come on, you," I urged as I stepped past him with my skirts gathered in my other hand.
Robin Hood's hideout was a gully in the middle of the forest. His group of men were waiting in gully under an outcropping rock and they all jumped to their feet when Robin appeared at the edge of the gully. He kindly helped Clara down the slope and would have done the same to me if the Doctor hadn't shouldered him aside and helped me down himself.
Robin lightly took Clara's hand and flashed her a charming smile. "My Lady Clara, Diana? Would you allow me to steal you both away from your friend for a moment?"
Clara and I nodded and I stepped around the Doctor to stand beside Robin. He used his free hand to take my own hand and pull me to his other side. Then he walked us both over to the group of his men, who were all grinning widely at us.
"Let me introduce you to my men," Robin said with a wave of his arm to his friends. "This is Will Scarlet. He is a cheeky rogue with a good sword arm and a slippery tongue."
Will smiled and nodded politely at Clara and I. "My ladies," he started with a bow.
The Doctor had come up behind him while the young man was bowing to us and he pulled a strand of hair from Will's head. Will cried out in pain and turned to glare at the Doctor, who was scanning the hair with his sonic.
"What do you want with my hair?" Will questioned angrily.
The Doctor tossed the hair aside after a moment with a sheepish grin. "Well, it's realistic, I'll give you that," he replied flippantly.
Robin glanced at Clara and I in confusion for a second. I smiled reassuringly at him and he moved us down the line of men. "And this is Friar Tuck," Robin added as Friar Tuck smiled pleasantly at us. "Aptly named for the amount of grub he tucks into."
"You skinny blackguard," Tuck laughed.
He began to step forward, presumably to shake our hands, but he suddenly lost his balance. I reached out to grab his forearms and kept him steady. The Doctor had ripped Tuck's left shoe off and was analyzing it with his sonic. "What are you doing?" Tuck asked incredulously.
"Doctor," I scolded.
"This isn't a real sandal!" the Doctor insisted.
"Yes, it is," Tuck replied slowly.
The Doctor sniffed the shoe, then recoiled with a wrinkled nose. "Oh. Yes, it is." He dropped the shoe and stepped away.
"This, er, is Alan-a-Dale," Robin said after shaking his head at the Doctor. "He's a master of the lute, whose music brightens up these dark days."
Alan flashed me a boyish smile and I returned the gesture when eh started to play his lute. "Stranger you are welcome here, in Sherwood's bonny glade- Ow!"
The Doctor had stabbed the young man in the arm with a needle of some kind.
"Doctor!" I snapped.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he said emotionlessly as he gazed at the needle. "Blood analysis… Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months."
"I am real," Alan responded slowly.
The Doctor grimaced slightly and stepped back. "Bye," he said as he crept away.
I groaned in frustration and shook my head. "Doctor, you're being weird again," I mumbled.
"Nevermind that, my Lady," Robin told me as he lightly grasped my arm. "You have yet to meet my friend, John Little."
My head snapped up and I smiled. "Little J- Um, yeah. I've heard of him."
Robin gestured to a mountain of a man with a scruffy beard who standing in front of me. "John Little, called Little John. He is my loyal companion in many an adventure," the bowman informed me.
I started to take a step forward to introduce myself to the man when he suddenly stepped aside and a midget jumped in front of us with a shout. Clara and I exclaimed in surprise, but laughed almost immediately afterwards. The other men all started laughing outrageously.
"Works every time!" Will exclaimed between laughs.
Oh, I cannot believe this," Clara exclaimed with a giggle. "You… You really are Robin Hood and his Merry Men."
Robin grinned and laughed again. "Aye! That is an apt description." He turned to his men and asked, "What say you, lads?"
"Aye!" they all shouted.
From his original spot by the edge of the gully, the Doctor groaned with a roll of his eyes. "Stop. Laughing," he grumbled. "Why are you always doing that? Are you all simple or something?" He grabbed a goblet from the ground and tossed out the liquid in it. He approached Robin with the cup extended in his hand. "I'm going to need a sample."
"Of what?" Robin asked, completely clueless.
I rushed forward and grabbed the Doctor's wrist, pinning his arm against his thigh. "Doctor!" I exclaimed. "Sorry, Robin. Be right back. Just have to, uh…"
I couldn't think of a good excuse for the Doctor's behavior, so instead I pushed him backwards and kept his arm pinned between his thigh and mine. He stumbled awkwardly over a few small rocks until I released his arm and settled both of my hands on his shoulders. He looked down at me in confusion, one eyebrow raised slightly.
"Yes?" he asked expectantly.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shout whispered.
"Well, they're not holograms, that much is obvious," he said as he gestured to the group of men with his arm. "Could be a theme park from the future. Or we might be inside a miniscope."
"A what?"
"You remember, Diana."
Clara came up beside me, hands on her hips. "Yeah, well I don't understand, so you'd better explain whatever that is to me."
The Doctor rolled his eyes with a sigh. "It's a machine that is used as a peepshow for more advanced species to watch lesser species and how they interact. Diana and Jo and I were stuck in one a very long time ago."
"Well, this isn't a mini whatever," Clara retorted. "They're real people and you're probably seriously disturbing them."
"A miniscope, Clara. And why not?" The Doctor gasped and grinned. "Yes, of course."
"Doctor, you're just being stupid now," I sighed.
The sound of light footsteps startled me and I turned around to see Robin approaching us. He smiled and nodded politely at each of us. I glanced over my shoulder to see how the Doctor would react, but he had walked away and was looking up at the trees.
"Your friend seems not quite of the real world," he noted jokingly.
I turned back to face the other two and sighed. Clara shook her head at Robin's comment. "No. No, he's not really. Not most of the time." Then she paused. "Er, dark days?"
Robin tilted his head to the side in confusion. "My lady?"
"Um, earlier," the woman clarified. "You said that these were dark days. What did you mean?"
Will spoke up from behind Robin. "King Richard is away on crusade, my lady. His tyrant of a brother rules instead," he explained.
"And the Sheriff," Clara added excitedly. " 'Cause there is a sheriff, right?"
This time Alan spoke up. "Aye. It is indeed this jackal of the princes who seeks to oppress us forever more," he told us.
"Or six months in your case," the Doctor added with a smirk.
"Oi, spaceman," I snapped. "Rude and not ginger."
He raised an eyebrow at me and gave me a sarcastic expression that made me want to laugh and roll my eyes at the same time.
Robin merely ignored the Doctor and turned back to Clara and I. "It is a shame to dwell on murky thoughts when there is such beauty here," he said with a grin.
Clara smiled slightly and sighed. "Why are you so sad?" she questioned after a moment.
"Why do you think me sad?" the bowman asked my friend.
"Because the Doctor's right, you laugh too much," Clara said with a knowing look on her face.
Robin shook his head. "You know, I do not live this outlaw life by choice. You see before you Robert-"
"Earl of Loxley," Clara said excitedly at the same time as Robin.
Then Clara paused and stared at the man almost horrified, realizing what she had just done. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Yes," she mumbled awkwardly.
"Yes," Robin answered slowly.
Clara glanced at me and smiled almost painfully. "Sorry. Do go on," she told Robin.
"I, uh, I had my lands and titles stripped from me," he started to explain. "I dared to speak out against Prince John. But I lost the thing most dear to me."
Clara smiled sadly. "What was she called?" she asked, echoing what I had wondered myself.
"You're so very quick. How does the Doctor stand it?"
"Marian?" the schoolteacher clarified.
Robin's eyes grew excited and hopeful. "You know her?"
Clara glanced at me and we both nodded. "Oh, yes. I have always known her. Well, both of us."
"It was Marian who told me that I must stand up and be counted. But I was afraid." I could see the hurt and regret in Robin's eyes as he spoke and my heart went out to him. "Now this green canopy is my palace and the rough ground my feather bed. Maybe one day I will return home, but until that day… Until that day, it is beholden on me to be the man Marian wanted, to be a hero for those this tyrant sheriff slaughters."
The Doctor, with a very perturbed expression on his face, came up behind me and forced a smile at the other man. "What time is it, Mister Hood?" he asked, completely ruining the awesome atmosphere Robin had created with his rousing speech.
Robin glanced up at the sun through the trees and answered, "Somewhat after noon."
"No, no," the Doctor replied with a shake of his head. "Time of year. What season?"
"Oh, Dame Autumn has draped her mellow skirts about the forest, Doctor. The time of mists and harvest approaches."
The Doctor rolled his eyes dramatically and stepped past the bowman, his eyes trained on the branches overhead. "Yeah, yeah. All very poetic," he sighed. "But it's very green hereabouts, though, isn't it? Like I said, very sunny."
"So?" Clara asked.
"Have you been to Nottingham?"
"No," I interjected dryly.
The Doctor gave me a look over his shoulder that said 'Yes, very funny, dear' and pursed his lips. "Consider the opposite of 'very sunny', Diana, and you have your answer," he told me before glancing back at the trees that stretched above us.
Robin, however, didn't seem to find the subject of weather very distressing. He stepped away from Clara, the Doctor, and I and towards his men. "You must excuse me," he told us as he approached his men. "The Sheriff has issued a proclamation and tomorrow there is to be a contest to find the best archer in the land. And the bounty, it's an arrow made of pure gold."
Clara panicked and shook her head frantically. "No! Don't! Don't go. It's a trap."
"Well, of course it is! But a contest to find the best archer in the land? There is no contest," Robin laughed.
The Merry Men all burst into laughter at Robin's comment. Clara looked at me and gave me a forced smile. She clearly was thinking along the same lines that I was: Robin Hood definitely needed to be more worried.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes and pointed angrily at Robin. "Right, that isn't even funny. That was… bantering. I am totally against bantering."
"Have you met yourself?" I muttered under my breath.
He glanced down at me. "What was that?"
The Merry Men ignored the Doctor's comment and continued to talk and laugh amongst themselves. Clara grabbed the Doctor's arm and moved so that her back was facing the group.
"How can you be so sure he is not the real thing?" she asked, releasing his arm to fold hers across her chest.
"Because he can't be," the Doctor replied.
Clara laughed humorlessly. "When did you stop believing in everything?"
"When did you start believing in impossible heroes?"
"Don't you know?"
I was taken aback by Clara's response. Her implied meaning was as plain as day in the way that she gazed up at him. The Doctor simply pursed his lips and glanced away. I sighed; Clara was trying to tell him that he was her hero, even I could understand that, and he simply ignored what she said as if she were commenting on the weather.
Clara exhaled softly and looked over her shoulder at the men. "In a way, it's rather sweet," she commented with a faint smile.
I looked back at the Doctor, who had bent over to pick up an apple from a basket near his feet. He drew his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and scanned the apple before taking a small bite. I reached up and grabbed the apple, tossing it over my shoulder.
"Are you insane?"
"I was eating that," he grumbled.
"Doctor, this is the Middle Ages. They don't even know what germs are. Cleanliness isn't even a thing yet. And you're still going to eat an apple that is probably infested with a million different diseases after those men have touched it?"
The Doctor grinned. "Why not?"
I groaned in frustration. "You are absolutely ridiculous, you know that?"
"Yes."
Not long after the sun had set, Robin and his men had started a fire and passed out blankets to all of us while Little John prepared dinner. The Merry Men all sat down cross-legged around the fire with their blankets either spread over their legs or wrapped around their shoulders. Robin invited Clara and I to sit next to him, so I moved to sit on the bowman's right and Clara sat on his left side. Alan was about to come sit on my other side when the Doctor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and plopped down beside me.
"Hello," he grinned.
I smiled and shook my head. "Hello back, you dork."
Little John had started to pass out wooden bowls to the Doctor, Clara, and I, and the others all pulled out their own bowls from small sacks. We were served first, along with Robin, and were all thrilled to get some food after the long hours we had spent with the Merry Men.
"What is this?" the Doctor grumbled crankily as he looked into his bowl.
I stirred the strange looking food around in the bowl with a wooden spoon, wrinkling my nose when I saw a few clumps of unidentified food floating around in the mush. I glanced at the Doctor's bowl, which contained the same sort of food, and sighed.
"Little John's finest cooking," Robin responded next to me. "A mash of oats, goat's milk, and squirrel. He usually saves such a meal for special occasions."
I gagged a little. The Doctor and I looked at each other simultaneously and shook our heads. With a sparkle of mischievousness in his eyes, the Time Lord grabbed my bowl and poured all of his mash into my bowl and then handed it back to me with a smirk.
"You little-"
"Do you like it?"
I looked away from the Doctor at Little John, who was standing nearby the fire with the ladle and pot in his hands. I quickly forced a spoonful of the mash into my mouth and let it sit for a few seconds. It wasn't a terrible taste, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either.
I nodded. "Mm hmm." Swallow. Gag. "Yes, it's… great. Thank you, Little John."
The Doctor snickered beside me, turning his face away and pressing his fingers against his mouth. I looked back at Little John and smiled kindly at him. "Although, I do believe that the Doctor has already finished his and I know he's still very hungry." I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. "Would you give him some more, please?"
"I'd be glad to, miss," Little John replied happily.
"Oh, thank you."
"What? No. Oh, no, no, no." The Doctor shook his head. "No, that's not necessary."
I slid my arm between his waist and elbow, wrapping my arm around his. "Of course it is, Doctor. You hardly ever eat. You really need something so that you don't look like a stick anymore."
Robin chuckled on my other side. "Aye, Doctor, your young lady friend is right. You are a mere wisp of a man."
"B-But I-I'm not!" the Doctor stammered angrily, pulling his bowl behind his back when Little John began to approach him. "I'm not even a man-"
"Ahem!" I interjected over the Doctor, roughly elbowing him in the ribcage. "Doctor, don't go talking gibberish now."
He stared incredulously at me, his face looming over mine. " 'Gibberish'?" he repeated.
"Yes, dear," I said in a condescending tone. "We don't want these Merry Men to think you're insane after they so kindly took us in and fed us… and everything."
The Doctor looked at me for a few moments until his eyes widened in understanding. He slowly nodded and forced a half smile onto his face. "Yes," he began, "you're absolutely right."
"So," Clara said from her spot by Robin. "What's the prize for this archery contest then?"
One of the men shouted the answer and the others began to join in with their excitement over the tournament. I looked at the Doctor and lightly nudged him with my elbow, making him glance away from the others and look down at me.
"Hey," I said with a smile.
"Hello."
I leaned forward so my elbows were resting on my knees and sighed. "So. Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham," I began with a smile. "Who'd've thought they were real, huh?"
"They're not," the Doctor replied firmly.
"Oh come on. You're not still angry that he pushed you into the river, are you?"
"Of course not," he answered. "I am merely perturbed by his presence."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh jeez," I sighed. "What is so terrible about him? He's Robin Hood, the Robin Hood. He's a hero."
"And not real."
"Obviously he is real. He's sitting right next to Clara."
"Flirting with Clara, actually."
"He's not flirting. He's in love with Maid Marian," I insisted.
The Doctor scoffed and threw his free hand in the air in exasperation. "Well he was flirting with you, wasn't he? Helping you across the river and giving you a little smile to make you blush."
As the Doctor huffed about the infamous bowman, a thought came to me. Could he be…? The thought was almost enough to make me laugh, but it was plausible. After all, the Doctor was married to me and since I wasn't married he could still be jealous of other men who caught my attention.
"Doctor," I began slowly, hoping I wasn't about to embarrass myself, "are you… You're not… jealous, are you?"
"Jealous?" he echoed incredulously. "Of him?"
I felt my cheeks flush and I turned my head away so the Time Lord wouldn't see the awkward look on my face. "Never mind. It's nothing," I mumbled.
"Honestly, Diana. Me? Jealous? It's like you don't know me at all." He exhaled and shook his head. "He's a-a fop. A dashing, young, blonde fop with a charming smile. Why would I be jealous of that? I'm a Time Lord. With a TARDIS, I might add."
Oh. I smiled. Got you, Theta.
I gently set my bowl down on the ground by my feet, then straightened my back and stretched. I scooted closer to the Doctor and wrapped my hands around his forearm, resting my head against his shoulder. He gazed down at me in confusion but said nothing until I had gotten myself comfortable.
"What are you doing?" he asked lowly.
I smiled and rubbed my temple against his arm. "Cuddling," I answered as I closed my eyes. "Do you mind?"
"No."
"Good."
I woke up sometime after midnight, the fire a mere pile of dying embers, and the rest of the camp snoring under their blankets. I was a little disoriented at first because I couldn't tell who was sleeping next to me and because my vision was still blurry after waking up. But I noticed that my blanket had been unfolded and spread over me and another blanket had been folded beneath my head.
Suddenly the person next to me mumbled in their sleep and reached out for me. I started to scoot away from them when I realized that it was the Doctor lying beside me. I relaxed and smiled, gazing at him and watching the way the dying fire lit up various angles of his face. His arm stretched out and he whispered something unintelligible before finally quieting down again.
He gave me his blanket as a pillow, I realized when I saw that he was only covered by his jacket.
I pulled the blanket from its spot near his head and draped it over his body. I didn't want him to be cold since an autumn night without heating would be chillier than any of us were probably used to. Then I quietly readjusted myself so that I was facing the Doctor's chest and the fire was facing my back. I gently curled my fingers around his wrist and slowly, slowly moved his arm so I could get closer to him. Then, when I was just a few inches away from his chest, I lowered his arm so that it was bent between our stomachs.
"Goodnight, Theta," I whispered with a smile before closing my eyes and falling asleep again.
Much to our embarrassment, the Doctor and I woke up cuddled against one another. He had one arm extended over my waist and my arms were curled between our bodies with my hands splayed out across his chest. Our foreheads were pressed lightly against one another's and our legs were tangled together at the ankles.
The Merry Men proceeded to tease us about it the rest of the morning, which annoyed the Doctor to no end and kept me in a permanent stage of blushing. Even when we were entering the castle where the tournament was to be held, John or Alan was teasing the Doctor about "his fair Diana" and Will was joking about how happy and peaceful I looked while I was sleeping in the Doctor's arms that morning.
Robin left Clara and I in Will's care while he went off to sign his name and gather his specially painted arrows for the competition. I looked around the grassy field within the castle walls and noticed that a fancy platform had been set up a few yards behind the spot where the archers were to stand for the competition. Little John explained to Clara and I that the Sheriff of Nottingham sat on the platform so he could oversee the entire competition.
And before I even realized most of what was happening in the hustle and bustle around us, the competition begun and arrows started to fly. Only half of the competitors seemed to know what they were doing with their bows and even some of the ones who seemed competent enough were not nearly good enough to beat Robin.
Robin's men had picked a spot closer to the targets than the archers, so it was difficult for me to pick Robin out of the crowd of other men at first without my glasses.
"Where'd the Doctor go?" I asked Clara after the tenth round of competition, snapping my head around to try and find the Time Lord.
Robin had been given a break after winning all ten rounds, so Clara and I left the Merry Men behind to meet and congratulate him. I repeated my question to Robin, hoping that his eyes would be sharper than ours and that he would spot the Time Lord quicker than we could.
"He can't have gone far," Robin replied. I turned back to him and smiled a little uneasily. "I saw him amongst my men a few minutes ago between the last two rounds. You need not worry, my lady."
Clara nodded. "He can take care of himself," she added softly.
An older looking man stepped forward and shouted at the crowd to quiet down. I looked at Robin and asked, "So who's that?"
"The Herald. He announces everything during the tournament and occasionally adds his own comments if he thinks they are clever."
Clara nudged me with her elbow and whispered, "Sports commentator."
I nodded. "Oh, okay."
"In the contest for the golden arrow, after ten rounds, the battle is betwixt our Lord Sheriff and the stranger known as Tom the Tinker," the Herald announced.
The Sheriff stood up from his place on top of the platform and descended the steps with his black cloak billowing behind him in the wind.
"Take your places!" the Herald announced.
Robin turned to me and, with a very handsome smile on his face, wrapped his fingers around mine and brought the back of my hand to his lips. "Wish me luck," he whispered before walking away.
I stared after him in shock, feeling my cheeks flush with warmth. Clara glanced at me and grinned, reaching for my hand and giggling lightly when I smiled. She looked past me when Robin spoke up, however.
"Shall we make the contest a little more interesting, my Lord?" the bowman was saying to the Sheriff. "The targets seem a little close. What say you? Another twenty paces?"
I gasped when I saw the Sheriff and for a long second, my heart felt like it had stopped. The Sheriff looked uncannily like the Master, only with a beard instead of his usual goatee. Terrified, I grasped at Clara's hand and stumbled hesitantly backwards a few steps.
"Diana, what's wrong?" Clara asked worriedly.
I shook my head in fear. "Clara, it's… He looks just like him," I breathed.
"Like who?"
"The Master." I stared at the Sheriff at watched him as he fired his bow at the target. "There's only a small difference between him and the Master. But… Clara, he's done this before. It was almost exactly like this. The Master tricked the Doctor into going there only he disguised himself as a French knight instead of a sheriff. But he changed his face just enough that he wouldn't be recognizable."
"But you recognize him this time?" Clara questioned.
I nodded. The crowd erupted into applause when Robin's arrow split the Sheriff's. "Maybe he wants to be recognized this time," I considered. "Clara, we have to find the Doctor. I don't think he saw the Sheriff earlier."
Clara nodded. "Okay. Okay, we'll find him, alright?"
Suddenly the sound of wind whistling sounded in my ear and an arrow shot past my head. I gasped and my hand flew to rest over my heart. The Doctor was standing just behind me, a great bow in his hands and his body aimed at the target. He dropped the bow and straightened his back, a proud glint in his eyes. Clara and I shared a brief look of surprise and curiosity, then looked back at the Doctor.
"I'm the Doctor," he began in a confident tone as he approached the Herald and the Sheriff. "My skills as a bowman speak for themselves. I claim my reward."
The Herald kneeled before the Doctor with a pillow in his hands. The reward, a golden arrow, was resting on top of the pillow. I watched in awe as the Doctor picked it up and glanced only briefly at it.
"A mere bauble," the Doctor said simply, his voice deep and arrogant. He tossed the golden arrow over his shoulder without looking and the crowd gasped in shock. "I want something else."
"Name it," the Sheriff answered.
"Enlightenment."
Before I could even think about his answer or consider going to the Doctor to tell him about the Sheriff, the crowd erupted into outrageous applause. Everyone turned to see the source of the applause and saw that Robin had loosened another arrow that had split through the Doctor's.
Clara clapped in amazement and she let out a shout. The Doctor faced me and his eyes grew wide. I started to step towards him, wanting to explain to him my theory about the Sheriff; I was convinced it was the Master, tricking us once again. But he merely stomped past me, grabbed another multicolored arrow from a quiver just a few yards behind me. Then he aimed for a guard and fired.
"Doctor!" I shouted in shock as the arrow whizzed towards the guard.
But the guard was spared because the arrow ricocheted off of his chest and somehow split Robin's arrow in half. I exhaled in relief and started towards him. He glanced at me with a pleased expression on his face. I paused mid step and gazed back at him in confusion. He was standing right next to the Sheriff, had seen him face to face, and he still couldn't recognize him?
Robin turned to face Clara and I, then quickly drew another arrow and fired it without even glancing at the target. Not surprisingly, his arrow split through the Doctor's arrow and all the others lodged into the target. Robin smirked and turned to look at the Doctor with a smug expression on his face.
The Doctor sighed. "This is getting silly," he snapped at Robin. Then he reached into his coat, pulled out his sonic screwdriver, and made the target explode with a push of a button.
I turned my head and stared at the Doctor, both shocked and amazed by his display of archery skills. He simply smirked and raised an eyebrow at me, as if to say, 'I am so impressive, aren't I?'
The Sheriff was watching this with a curious expression on his face. He glanced from a spot he was staring at on the Doctor's back and then glanced at me for a moment. My heart skipped a beat and I felt terrified that maybe he really was the Master. The Sheriff smiled and looked away and I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.
"Fascinating," he noted casually. "Seize him!"
From different spots around the arena, three knights started to walk towards the Doctor, Clara, Robin, and I. I panicked and ran straight for the Doctor for protection. He looked just as confused as I felt, but he stepped in front of me with a brave face nonetheless. The guards had all drawn their swords and were advancing at a brisk pace.
Clara had rushed over to a large wooden stand that held multiple Middle Age weapons and grabbed a spear with an enormous spearhead on it. But it was so heavy that the top immediately fell forward and thudded against the grass, almost making Clara fall with it.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor shouted. "Put that down!"
"I'm fine!" Clara assured him as she struggled with the weapon. "I take Year Seven for after school Tae Kwon Do."
"After school Tae Kwon Do isn't going to help right now, Clara!" I screeched as the guards drew closer.
"Don't worry, Doctor," Robin cried as he drew his sword and jumped in front of us, "I'll save you."
"I don't need saving," the Doctor grumbled.
"Your honor is safe."
"I know," the Time Lord replied dryly.
"For I am Robin." The hero removed his hat and the gray cloak he had thrown over his shoulder and grinned. "Robin Hood!"
"Would you two stop it?" I snapped.
Robin brought his sword down and cut off a guard's arm, which fell into the grass buzzing with sparks. I looked from the arm to the socket it had been cut from and saw several severed wires sticking out of the socket.
"Witchery! Witchery!" one of the spectators screamed.
The Doctor rushed forward and knelt to pick up the fallen arm. "Robot," he realized as he looked over the arm.
Standing above him, the guard's visor somehow folded open to reveal a face made of metal. On its forehead, a cross-shaped opening began to glow purple and a purple beam fell across the Doctor's face.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
"Doctor!" I cried.
The Sheriff smiled cruelly and then began to shout orders. "Take them. Kill the rest. Kill them all!"
I looked into the crowd and felt tears come to my eyes. Old men and women, young girls, toddlers and babies were all dispersed throughout the crowd. Families and young couples and innocent children were standing around in shock and fear.
"No!" I pushed past the Doctor and Robin and ran for the Sheriff, fully convinced that he was the Master. I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn and face me. "Master, please! Don't. They're just innocent people. Please, just let them go. Do whatever you want to them, but please don't kill them! They've done nothing wrong!"
The Master raised an eyebrow at me. "Why should I follow the demands of a criminal woman?"
"Just stop! You're mad at the Doctor and I, so take it out on us! But let these people go! It won't do you any good to kill them. Please!"
The screams and cries of people being wounded echoed in my ears with the explosions caused by the robotic knights. The Master stared at me for what felt like an eternity until he finally raised his fisted hand and shouted at the knights to stop. Then he grabbed my elbow and pulled me closer to him. I shied away from his touch, but didn't dare to run back to the Doctor. I knew what he was capable of, the joy he would find in making me watch the peasants die and bleed out.
"Arrest the two men and the young woman," he ordered the knights. The Master then turned to face the remainder of the crowd and forced a smile onto his face. "The tournament has ended. You are all ordered to return to your homes and not leave unless I order contrary. Anyone who disobeys shall be killed."
I looked back at the Doctor, Clara, and Robin, who were all surprised by my sudden burst of courage. Robin was holding his sword in front of him with the intent of cutting the robotic knights to shreds. I met the Doctor's eyes and shook my head, trying to tell him not to struggle against the knights. I had seen enough of his universe back home and been travelling with him long enough to know that with robots, resistance meant death.
The Doctor stepped slightly in front of Clara, who was still holding up her spear. "He surrenders!" he shouted over the explosions.
Robin stared incredulously at him. "What?"
With a loud "Hai", the Doctor shot a hand out and used a Venusian aikido move to knock Robin's sword out of his hand.
"You miserable cur!" Robin exclaimed angrily. "I had them on the run!"
"Stop bickering!" Clara scolded as she waved her spear at a knight.
Robin shouted to his Merry Men across the field, "Flee, lads, flee! Live to fight another day!"
The knights finally closed in one the three and Clara dropped her weapon. The Doctor raised his hands in the air and Robin and Clara copied his movements. Clara whispered something to the Doctor and he responded so softly that I couldn't hear. The Master tightened his grip on my elbow, which made me gasp lightly. The Doctor somehow heard me through the fading cries of the peasants running away and stared worriedly at me in between the robots.
"To the dungeons with all of them," the Sheriff ordered his knights. Then he turned me around so that I was looking up at him and said, "You will come with me."
That was my attempt at a jealous Doctor trying not to be obvious about his jealousy so that his not-yet wife won't suspect a thing. Silly Doctor being jealous of Robin Hood. I'm sure some of you will dislike what I've done, but I ask that you just bear with me for now until I finish the second half.
Anyway, I hope you guys liked this. Enjoy and please give me lots of positive feedback! (Unless you hated it, in which case please be polite. Please and thank you.)
And one quick reminder for you all: I recently edited the first chapter of this story so that it flows better with the way I am currently writing. The chapters after that are still the original works, but I am planning to edit them over the next few weeks. Also there's a link on my profile to my pinterest where I post Diana's outfits. :)