AN/ This fic features my Spirit character from my fics 'Nightcrawler Spirit,' 'Sparrow Spirit,' 'Skinner Spirit,' and 'Constantine Spirit.' I own the Spirit, but the BBC owns Doctor Who and the TARDIS. TARDIS POV. Part of my TARDIS 100 series. Thanks to LilCosette for betaing. Dedicated to all the fans of my Spirit fics.
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Sometimes we encounter someone who we remember for the rest of our lives. Someone with a powerful, kind soul who we just can't forget, even if we only meet them once. In my travels, I have come across many individuals like this. I don't seek them out. We meet by accident.
There was one time, however, when one of these extraordinary individuals tried, and succeeded to find me.
She slowly approached me. At first, I thought she was just another passer-by who would ignore me as per usual, but no. She walked right up to me. She paused and smiled.
"Hello, old girl," she said softly.
I was confused. I did not know her, yet she seemed to know me, know who and what I was. She even knew what the Doctor sometimes called me during some of our intimate moments.
How could she know that?
She reached out and pressed her hand against my door. Her smile widened into a grin. She closed her eyes and for a moment just seemed to relish the feeling of power and life through the wood of my disguise. I tried to reach out and touch her mind, but I found that I could not. She was blocking me. She must have been extremely powerful to be able to do that. I was used to being able to enter any and every mind around me and I wasn't sure if I liked not being able to reach into her mind or not.
She pushed on my doors. She wanted in. I decided no, I wasn't going to let her in until she let me in.
She smiled again when I resisted. "Okay, okay." I felt her mind open to me and I dove on in.
She was a Spirit from another realm, one with many names; Calypso, Reepa, Injara, Bastet, Karen, Nikita and Morph. It was her job to guide people, her assignments, all of them heroes in their own way, through their trials and adventures for a short time. She had seen mutants, pirates, monsters, angels and demons. She had seen suffering and pain. She had felt terror and joy. She had been brave for her assignments, stuck with them through Hell and back. Literally, sometimes. She had great power that was usually controlled by her Masters. She was on a break right now in between assignments and had sought me out, using her own personal time and energy, just so she could meet me. The Spirit knew of the Doctor, Rose and I and what we do. I could see in her mind many of our recent adventures and even some of our past ones a few regenerations ago. She even knew of the Time War, though not in great detail. She also knew some of what would happen to us in the future. It was amazing.
"Can I come in now?" she asked.
I decided that yes, she could. I knew she would do me or the Doctor no harm.
She pressed again on my doors and they opened. She stepped inside and grinned slowly. "Bigger on the inside," she muttered. She knew it was a cliché thing to say and think upon walking through my doors for the first time.
The Spirit circled around my console a few times, staring at the time rotor and examining all the gadgets that littered my cluttered console. She touched nothing except for the bell, which she ringed twice. This made her smile and think of the Doctor.
I could see him in her mind; tall, black leather jacket, sort hair, intense blue eyes, northern accent. She named him "Nine" in her mind. Then I saw another Doctor in a brown suit and coat with longer hair and hazel eyes. He was named "Ten." I saw Rose and her family, Captain Jack, Mickey… even Adam. Then I saw Daleks, Cyberman, monsters and aliens. She knew all of the dilemmas and dangers of travelling with the Doctor without even having met him, yet she was not cocky about it like some people would be if they knew about the Doctor and I. She was just curious in a 'take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints' sort of way.
"You're beautiful, you know," she murmured to me, putting a hand to one of my coral support structures. "The most fantastic ship in the universe." The Spirit sighed. "I'm only sad I can't stay for longer and meet the Doctor, but I have to go. I'm glad to have met you though. Thank you."
I sent a feeling of general well-being her way, a variation of "It was my pleasure. Come back any time." It was lovely to contact the mind of an individual other than the Doctor or a companion who knew so much, yet wanted no profit from this knowledge. All she wanted was the experience of seeing me, of feeling me, and she got it.
The Spirit reluctantly exited out through my doors, closing them securely behind her. She pressed her hand to my side one last time to say farewell, then she simply vanished. Were it not for my intimate memory of her and her mind, I would have said she didn't exist entirely.
I hope I do meet her again, just as I'm sure she hopes she will see me again. Perhaps one day, we will.