A/N: Sorry guys, I know it is a few days late. Been doing a lot of uni work, as always, and got totally distracted from uploading this every time I went to do it. I also apologise for any spelling and grammatical errors that may pop up. I'm working on it. now, go read!
Kari let out a groan as she rolled over and onto her side. There was a smile on her face as she remembered the dinner she had just enjoyed with the Doctor. The places that he kept taking her were absolutely amazing, and the Ruby eclipse that they had just witnessed was nothing less than spectacular.
The sight she saw when the sky turned red, she was once again speechless. Just sitting there with the Doctor and not arguing had been perfect for her, but what she was seeing with him just made it all so much more.
She felt a pair of arms around her, and someone's breathing on the back of her neck. "Well, it's about time you woke up." The Doctor mumbled to her through her hair.
She couldn't help but groan again. "Why do you always have to wake me up? All I want to do is sleep."
The Doctor chuckled at her a little. "I didn't wake you up, you woke up all by yourself. And now that you're awake, we need to go and save the Earth at least one more time." He reminded her.
"Five more minutes." Kari mumbled, hugging the covers closer to her, hoping that the Doctor wasn't going to yank them away from her and leave her cold on the bed when she wanted just a few more minutes of peaceful sleep. He had done that to her before, and she was not going to let him do it to her again.
"You always say five more minutes, and it always ends up being more than five." He told her, but not even attempting to take the covers away from her.
She rolled back over and onto her other side so that she was facing him. "Please?" She asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes, which was difficult since they really didn't want to stay open.
"And you always get your way. Go on then, another five more minutes, which in reality is another hour or so, according to the laws of time by Kari." The Doctor replied, smiling as he kissed her forehead.
"And you never disagree with the laws of time by Kari, do you, Doctor?" She muttered to him, relaxed now that she knew he was going to let her sleep for just a little bit longer. It was strange, most of the time he didn't let her go back to sleep once he knew she was up, not unless something had happened just before hand and he knew she needed the extra sleep.
"Kari, I've learnt it's just best not to disagree with you at all." He told her. "Now, shush, and go back to sleep."
"Hmm, night night, Doctor." She managed to whisper, before drifting back off into her own little dream world.
The Doctor let her snuggle back down, a smile on his face as he watched her fall back to sleep. He was happy to have managed to surprise her and make her fall silent, and he was glad that she hadn't been angry with him for throwing her into the pool.
The last thing that the Doctor needed was an angry Kari out for his blood. He knew what she was like when she was angry, and he knew that was a situation that was best avoided. He liked his Kari happy, and right now, he knew that she was.
When Kari finally did decide to wake up, she was sprawled out in the Doctor's bed on her own. She had no idea how long he had let her sleep for, or where he even was. She was about to toss the covers away from her legs when the door suddenly opened.
The Doctor was standing there, a smile on his face and a tray in his hands. "Ah, perfect timing." He called, entering the room and strolling over to the bed where Kari was pushing herself so that she was sitting up. "You must have still been tired, you slept for almost 3 extra hours. What have you been up to that's got you so tired?"
Kari just looked at him, wondering what he was doing with that tray still. "Uh, running around with you all the time. I always seem to catch you after you've had some sleep, meaning I get to stay up and never sleep."
"Ah well, you've had plenty of sleep now, so time for breakfast instead." He told her, finally putting the tray down on the bed.
She looked at the contents of the tray. Her morning tea was sitting there, steam rolling off it and floating up into the air. The Doctor had also supplied her with toast, fruit and a bowl of cereal, but Kari wasn't really all that hungry. "Thanks. Have you had something to eat?"
The Doctor nodded at her. 'Yeah, I had a little bit of toast while I was making your tea. Now come on, chop chop. We got a busy day, planets to see, people to save." He told her, before snatching up a piece of the toast on the tray and taking a rather large bite out of it.
"Hey! You said you had some toast." Kari cried at him. "Leave off, this is my breakfast." Her hand was quick to bat the Doctor's away from trying to grab any more of her food. "So, what's the plan after this? Do you have a plan? Or do you have a thing?"
"Well, we really should go and save the Earth from all that living plastic. What do you say?"
Kari looked at him, putting on her thinking face and pretending that she really was trying to decide on whether or not that should go and save the planet, or if she wanted to push her luck to spend some more time with her Doctor. Eventually she let out a sigh. "I guess we had better go and save the planet. Oh, and Rose and her boyfriend. And the rest of mankind."
The Doctor chuckled at her a little. "That's my Kari. So, eat up, get showered and changed and then come and find me. You got an hour, otherwise I'm coming to find you." He told her, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss before jumping off the bed.
She watched him leave the room, a smile on her face as he shut the door behind him. Everything just seemed to be going so well at the moment, and Kari couldn't help but wonder how much longer it was going to last for. She knew that sooner or later something was going to happen to mess everything up, it always did. But all she could do for now was wait and see what happened, and hope that everything went perfect for them both.
By the time she had eaten the toast that the Doctor had left her, she only had around half an hour left to get washed and dressed. For some reason, she had been thinking more than she had been eating, Kari knew that she had to move her backside if she wanted to get to the Doctor before he had to hunt for her.
Luckily, Kari managed to shower and dress quickly, with a little help from the TARDIS. She had been planning on running back to her own room to get washed and dressed, but someone had managed to convince her to use the Doctor's bathroom, and supplied her with some clean clothes as well.
She was humming softly to herself as she bounced down the corridors of the TARDIS, making her way to the console where she knew the Doctor would be waiting for her. It was as she turned the corner she heard something.
"Kari…" A voice whispered to her, making her turn her head sharply. But there was nothing there, at least nothing that she could see. "Kari…" The voice called again.
The first time she heard it, she thought she had just imagined it, but now, she was a little more certain she heard something. "Who's there?" She managed to say, trying not to let her voice waver. Her eyes were scanning everywhere, but she could see nothing out of the ordinary, and no one had answered her. She wasn't exactly afraid, just a little freaked out.
She waited for another minute or so, before shaking it off and carrying on her walk to find the Doctor. But now, she just had a feeling that something was wrong, that there was something there that shouldn't be there.
As Kari turned the corner, her mind playing back what had just happened and trying to find a logical explanation for it, she walked straight into something. Without even looking at who it was, she let out a rather loud scream and backed away from whatever was in front of her.
"Kari? What's wrong?" The Doctor asked her, being what she had bumped into. "What's happened?" There was panic and concern in his voice as he spoke, watching her wide eyes lock onto his.
"N… nothing. Nothing's wrong. Nothing happened." Kari stuttered, not being very convincing.
"Right, so you just scream like that all the time then, do you?" The Doctor asked her, knowing that she wasn't telling him the truth.
She looked at him, trying to calm herself down and do her best to ach as if nothing was wrong. "You just startled me, that's all. I didn't know you were going to be coming around the corner just as I was going around it, did I?" Kari said, trying to defend herself and convince him that nothing was wrong.
"Kari, you're lying to me." The Doctor told her softly, taking a hold of both of her hands and gazing into her eyes, trying to work out what was going on. "What happened?"
Before Kari had a chance to open her mouth and answer him, the voice called her name once again, making her tense and her eyes widen once more. "Did you… did…"
The Doctor nodded at her. "I heard that." He told her quietly, gently pulling her closer towards him. "Is that what had you worried?" She nodded her head at him a little, her fear starting to make an appearance once more. "It's fine, nothing to worry about." He said, not wanting to admit that he was a little concerned as to where that voice was coming from.
"If it's nothing to worry about, why are you gripping my hand so tightly?" Kari asked him, feeling her hearts pounding just a little bit more in her chest. Whatever was going on, it was worrying the Doctor, and she knew it.
He glanced down at their hands, realising that he was gripping hers rather tightly. "Sorry." He mumbled, before relaxing his hand a little. "I think we should go to the console. You know, just so that I can do a quick scan."
Kari looked at him, noticing his eyes scanning everywhere just like she had done, trying to find the source of the voice. "There's something else here with us, isn't there, Doctor?"
"I'm not sure. Come on, let's move." The Doctor replied, dragging Kari with him as he rushed down the corridor and towards the console. They were both freaked out, Kari more so than him because it was her name that was being called.
The moment they reached the console, the both stopped dead in their tracks. Everything was dark, apart from the dim glow coming from the time rotor. "Doctor, what's going on? Why is it so dark? It shouldn't be this dark, should it?" Kari asked him, her fear showing in her voice.
"Something's wrong." The Doctor muttered to himself. "Something is draining all the power. There's something here that shouldn't be here."
"What is it, Doctor? What's here that shouldn't?" Kari asked him, her voice quiet and shaky. She hadn't really expected this to happen, she had expected to go meet the Doctor at the console, go off to save Rose and the rest of the world. Not get freaked out by something in the TARDIS that shouldn't have been there.
He looked at her, the worry evident on his face. "I'm not sure. But whatever it is, I will find out." The Doctor told her, calmly leading her over towards the console. She could tell by the look on his face that even he had absolutely no idea what was going on, and that scared her even more.
"And how are you going to find out? I mean, if whatever is going on is draining all the power, how are you going to work out what is going on?" Kari asked him, her eyes flicking around the room, looking for anything out of place.
The Doctor stopped and turned to face her, taking both of her hands in his own. "Kari, I know you're scared, but whatever it is, we will work it out. Everything is going to be fine, yeah?" He told her, trying to reassure her a little. He could see just how scared she was, and he absolutely hated it. He hated seeing her scared.
She searched his eyes of any sign of doubt, anything that would tell her that he had no idea what was going on or what to do. Kari found it, and she knew he was just as worried as she was. "Then why are you so worried, Doctor?" She managed to ask him. "You have no idea what is going on, neither of us do."
"I'm worried about you, Kari. You are scared, and it's never good when you are scared. For a start, it usually means there is something terrible to be scared of, but also because I hate seeing you scared." He told her, just hoping that she would listen to him and calm down a little. Her panicking was not going to do them any good, because he was going to be more focused on her than whatever was wrong.
"Doctor, I have absolutely no idea what is going on." She admitted to him. "That's bad enough, but hearing a voice keep…"
"Kari…"
She froze at hearing her name once more. "Doing that…" Kari whispered, her hands now gripping the Doctor's a lot tighter. "Doctor, what is that voice?" She didn't recognise it, it wasn't a voice she had ever heard before, and she had no idea who it belonged to.
"I don't know. But we will find out, I promise. Okay? Okay, Kari?" She nodded at him a little, but her eyes were filled with more than just fear now, the tears were starting to build as well. "Right, we need to see if we can get something working, see if we can do a scan of the ship, see if anything is amiss." He told her, taking the last few steps towards the console.
"But there isn't much power. How can we do a scan if there isn't enough power?" Kari asked him, fear taking over her rationality.
"Oh ye of little faith." The Doctor said, as he started to wander around the console, flicking switches and trying to get things working again. "There's always power somewhere, we just have to find it."
While the Doctor tried his best to get things working, Kari stood there, not really knowing what she could do to help. "And how are we going to find that little bit of power?" She asked, before leaning against the console.
The moment her hands touched it, everything began to spark, and the lights came back on, only much brighter than they should have been. Kari quickly pulled her hands away, stepping back from the console, her hands shaking as she looked at them and the golden glow around them.
"Kari, are you all right?" The Doctor called, rushing to her side and looking at her hands.
"What… what was that?" She managed to ask him, her eyes still firmly fixed on her hands. That had never happened before, the TARDIS had never reacted to her in such a way before and it gave her something else to be afraid of.
He gently put his hand under her chin and lifted her gaze up so that she was looking at him and not her hands. "Kari, listen to me, it's all okay. You know how the TARDIS is with you, all you have to do is touch the door and she lets you in. She was just telling you there is power there still, that's all. It is nothing to worry about. Okay, Kari?" He told her in a rush, although not fully sure that he was telling her the truth. In reality, he had no idea what had happened or why.
"You don't sound so sure there, Doctor." Kari mumbled.
The Doctor let out a sigh. "Kari, everything will be fine."
"Don't say that, Doctor. You have no clue as to what is going on, don't tell me everything is going to be fine when you have no idea what the hell is going on." She said, her voice rising slightly. "Something's wrong with the TARDIS, you don't know what is it. Something is here, calling my name, and you have no idea what it is. You have no idea what happened when I just touched the console. So don't you dare tell me everything is going to be fine when you have not got a clue about what is going on."
"Kari, come on, you need to just calm down now." He told her, grabbing onto her shoulders. "You're right, I don't know everything that's going on, I haven't got the faintest idea on any of it right now. But what I do know is that we will work it out, both of us, and stop whatever is it."
All the lights in the ship dimmed back down once more, leaving them again in just the glow of the time rotor. The whole room just felt so wrong, and there was only a few times Kari had ever felt it feel that way. "Doctor, you haven't been to Karass Don Slava recently, have you?"
He looked at her, a frown on his face. "No, not that I can remember. Why?"
"Not the psychic pollen then." She mumbled to herself, ruling that out as being the cause of whatever was going on.
"Not the what?" The Doctor asked her, having not heard her clearly and wondering what she was muttering about.
She quickly shook her head at him. "Nothing, it doesn't matter. Just trying to work out what's wrong with the old girl." Kari told him, before taking a step back towards the console. She knew what she was about to do was probably very stupid, and the Doctor was likely to give her an ear full for it afterwards, but she just felt like she needed to do it.
But the Doctor had noticed her, her hand stretched out as she edged closer to the console again. "Kari, what are you doing?" He asked, concern and worry flooding his voice.
"I just want to make sure she's okay. Like you said, Doctor, she responds to me. I touched her and all the lights came back on. I'm just making sure she really is okay." Kari told him, not bothering to turn and look at him, just wanting to reach out and touch the console and see what happened.
It seemed that the Doctor wasn't going to stop her, and he watched as her the gap between her hand and the console of their ship gradually became smaller. The moment her hand rested on one of the panels, the whole room lit up once more, the light blinding them both. Kari shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out as much of the light as she could.
And that was when she felt it, she felt the TARDIS. She was still there, still watching over them both and trying to protect them. But Kari still knew something was wrong. "What is it? What happened?" She whispered, willing the magical ship to somehow let her know what was going on.
She let out a cry, as something pushed it's way into her head, into her mind. Then she saw it, the TARDIS was showing her what had happened, she was showing her exactly what was going on and what was wrong.
There was darkness, a darkness that had managed to creep into their ship. A darkness that wanted revenge, revenge for something that Kari hadn't even done yet. It was after her, and it wasn't going to stop until it had devoured her mind and soul. That was what was calling her name, and why she couldn't recognise the voice of it.
Suddenly she felt herself being pulled away from the console, the connection she had with the TARDIS broke and she let out a gasp. "Kari? Kari, are you okay?" The Doctor asked her, holding her in his lap as they had both landed on the grilled flooring of the ship. "Kari?"
"Do…Doctor?" She whispered, her voice shaking as well as her hands. "There's something else here with us. Something that shouldn't be here."
"Kari, what happened?" He asked her again. All he had seen was the blinding lights, before hearing her let out a small cry. He had no idea what she had seen, or what had happened to her.
"She… she showed me. Something snuck in, a darkness. It was like a cloud of black smoke. It snuck in and… and now…" Kari didn't really know how to tell him the rest, how to tell him that the TARDIS had picked up the thoughts of the darkness so that she knew exactly what it wanted.
Now the Doctor was even more concerned than he had been before. "What, Kari? And now what?"
"It… it wants something." Kari managed to tell him, before having to take a deep breath. "It wants revenge."
"Revenge for what? Come on, Kari, you're safe, you can tell me." He told her, hoping that a little reassurance would encourage her to tell him the rest. He knew it must have been something bad for her to be shaking so much.
Finally, she turned her head and looked at him. There were tears swimming in her eyes, threatening to fall at any second. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to be so scared, but she was no longer scared, she was at the point of being petrified. The one place where she always believed she would be safe, where the Doctor could always protect her, and it was no longer safe.
"I… I don't know. All I know is that it wants revenge. She showed me, she could hear it's thoughts, and it wants revenge for something I haven't even done yet. I don't even know what it is." Kari told him, before the first set of tears decided to fall.
The Doctor just looked at her, trying to work out exactly what this darkness could have been. "You said it looked like a black cloud of smoke?" He asked her, getting a nod from her in response. "What else can you tell me about it? What else did she show you?"
Kari didn't know what else to tell him, all she could describe it as was a black cloud of smoke and nothing more. It had no shape to it, it was just smoke as far as she could tell.
"Kari…" The voice called, now sounding even more sinister. "Kari…"
"Ignore it, Kari. It's just a voice. It can't hurt you. I won't let it hurt you." The Doctor told her.
Then the voice laughed at them, sending a shiver up Kari's spine. "Oh, I'm more than just a voice." It told them both. "More than just a cloud of smoke."
"Doctor…"
"I'm the nightmare that never goes away. The shadow in your mind, the doubt in your heart." Kari's grip on the Doctor's hand tightened, her hearts pounding in her chest. "You're right to be afraid. I've been waiting for you, waiting for you to return, waiting to have my revenge."
The Doctor had really had enough of the creepy voice now. "Enough!" He shouted, making Kari jump a little in his arms. "Why do you want revenge? What has Kari ever done to you, eh? How do you even know her?"
The voice chuckled. "Oh, Doctor. Have you forgotten already? You were both there, when she took my life away. The Angel of Time, with all that power flowing through her, so much power. She destroyed me, now I will destroy her."
By now, the tears were silently rolling down Kari's cheeks. Whatever that thing was, it knew her and what she could do, but she had no idea what it was. "If Kari took your life away, how are you here now then?" The Doctor asked, wanting to just get to the bottom of it all and sort it out.
"When she took my life, she took my form. But I survived. I survived by freeing myself of the body she cursed, taking on a new form, a form that she wouldn't be able to destroy. And now I shall take my revenge, Doctor."
"Doctor, please, what is it?" Kari asked him, trying to keep herself together but completely failing at it. She could feel herself shaking as the Doctor held onto her still, and nothing she could do would stop it.
The Doctor turned and looked at her, a serious look in his eyes. "Kari, now think, when she showed you what happened, did you see anything else?" He asked her in a rush. "Anything at all. When did this manic cloud of smoke manage to sneak on board? There must have been something."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to replay what the TARDIS had shown her in her head. She could see the black cloud in the console room, swirling around the console. Kari knew she needed to work out more, but the TARDIS hadn't shown her any more. So she just tried harder, to noticing anything that could give her a clue.
"I… I think I know, Doctor." She mumbled after a few minutes of silence. "I think it was Elfore. It snuck in when we were on Elfore."
The moment she had said that, the Doctor's face fell. "Balavin." He spat, before laughing echoed throughout the entire ship. The Doctor gripped hold of Kari, keeping her as close to him as he could. He now knew who was there with them, and he knew that things were not going to be good.
A/N: Once again I am sorry for this chapter being 2 days late. I've really had a lot going on and I just kept missing my opportunities to post this chapter.
Now, a big thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed, I'm so glad you like the story. And an even bigger thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review.
Notes on reviews:
1. I'm still working on a special story line, which involves Kari going to Gallifrey and meeting the Doctor for the first time.
2. I have got a few paradox moments planned in the near future. So keep your eyes peeled!
3. Kari will be meeting Sarah Jane Smith, no doubt about it.
4. As to who Susan is to Kari… well, you're just going to have to wait to find out.
Time for me to stop yapping and get on with writing now. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope it all took you a little by surprise as well. I bet most of you were thinking it was time to go back and save Rose and the rest of mankind. But I decided that can wait just a little bit longer.
Pippa.