A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, lack of motivation and time has kind of had an impact on everything. I have been trying, but right now I'm empty of everything. This chapter probably isn't all that great, but right now it's the best I can do.
Kari was definitely feeling nervous now. They were back in the forest, back in the place where she had encountered that strange beast. For some reason the air felt thicker, the noise of the wildlife had vanished completely, and the only sound to be heard was their footsteps and breathing.
"Okay, I don't like this. It's quiet, why is it so quiet?" Clara asked suddenly, making Kari jump a little. She was too focused on clinging to the Doctor's arm, and trying not to let her fear show through, that she forgot everyone else was there.
"The noise we're making has probably just scared everything off," Kari explained to her calmly, hoping that she was right, "that's all it is." The Doctor seemed to have picked up on the nervousness in Kari's voice, as he gave her hand a light squeeze, grasping her attention.
With just that one look he could see that she was scared, and that what she had just said was more for her own benefit than Clara's. "Come on, Clara, would you hang around with giant creatures stomping around in your home?"
"Isn't that exactly what we're doing, though? Hanging around with a great big monster living here?" Of course Clara was going to mention that, how could she not?
"We don't know if it really is a monster, Clara. It could be anything, it doesn't have to be a monster. Just because other people are scared of it, that does not make it a monster." Kari was surprised that the Doctor was defending the Warper, but then again, she didn't blame him.
Kari kept going over in her head what she had seen, the white mound of fur, the featureless face, the way it moved. There was something about what she had seen that was making her feel uncomfortable even now, like she had missed something. It had been playing on her mind the whole time, and now she couldn't help but question everything that she saw.
She had been so lost in her own little world that she hadn't even noticed that they had stopped walking, until she walked right into the Doctor who had planted himself in front of her to try and get her attention. There was a startled look on her face as she looked up at him, and a worried look on his. "Kari…"
"Sorry, I was just… thinking. That thing, the Warper, there's something I've missed, and I just can't put my finger on it." Now it was really starting to bother her, it was as if it had been staring her in the face the whole time, but she was too stupid to put the pieces together.
From the way he looked at her, he believed her, and he was most certainly worried. "Whatever it is, you'll work it out, you always do." Kari couldn't help but scoff at that a little. Most of the time she wasn't working things out, she just already knew. But this, something was seriously bugging her about the whole thing.
Her eyes kept darting from side to side now, watching each and every tree as they passed. "I don't know, Doctor, it feels like there is something more going on. I mean, their father disappearing, and now their sister disappearing. I don't know…"
"You don't think they simply disappeared."The Doctor called in her head, making her jump a little. It had been a while since he had done that, and the first time from that particular Doctor. "You think it could all have something to do with one of the brothers."
That wasn't something she had thought about, but now she was. "I don't know, I don't think so. Sure, Nero seems to be a little power crazed at the moment, but I really don't think he would try to get rid of his father, and especially not his sister, just so he could rule." No, she had seen the way he had acted about his sister, he loved her, he cared about her too much to willingly put her in danger. He wanted nothing more than to find her.
"Looks can be deceptive, Kari, remember that. We weren't exactly welcomed her at first, I was with Clara, locked up in the dungeon until you came along." The Doctor reminded her. "Just take your time and think about everything, to look at every single option."
She knew what he was telling her, notice everything. The Doctor wanted her to take her time to look around, to gather as much information as possible. "This Warper thing bothers me as well. Everything I saw, it just did not make sense." The moment they stepped out of the TARDIS nothing felt right.
"You're doing it again." Clara called, causing everyone to turn and look at her. "That talking in your head thing. You're doing it, again."
"We were having a private conversation, that is allowed." The Doctor quickly snapped back, his grip on Kari's had getting just a little tighter. "You might have to use your mouth for talking, but we don't." It seemed he wasn't happy with Clara's little comment, or the way that the pair were being looked at now.
"What does that mean, you don't have to speak to talk?" Adrian asked, looking at Kari rather curiously.
She glanced up at the Doctor before turning back to him and answering. "It means just that, we don't have to speak aloud to talk to each other. Truth is, I'm not human, and neither is the Doctor." The moment those words left her mouth Adrian stopped.
It was clear he was shocked, it was written all over his face. "You're… you're not human?" With an apologetic look on her face, Kari shook her head at him. "Then, what are you? You… you look human."
At that comment the Doctor rolled his eyes. "No, you look Time Lord, we came first. That's what we are, Time Lords, or Time Lady in Kari's case." There was no way that he was going to let the man question his Kari and make her feel uncomfortable. That was why he had answered, why he had jumped in before she could explain anything. "And if you don't like that, then tough. We may not be human, but we are still here to help."
Adrian still didn't seem to know what to say, his eyes flicking between Kari and the Doctor. There was a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, and it looked like she was doing her best not to laugh a little as well. "Okay, so the pair of you aren't human, I can accept that. I don't think my brother would be able to handle that if he were here. Anything else I should know about?"
"Uh, well, now that you mention it…" Kari started, wondering if the Doctor was going to stop her.
He didn't, in fact, he jumped in and finished for her. "Kari can see the future, and the past. Her eyes glow when she's angry, and she is bursting with energy from the time vortex." It surprised both Kari and Clara, the Doctor just blurting that out. "And Clara is from Earth."
"But Earth is gone." Adrian pointed out in confusion. "It's been gone for thousands of years now. How can you be from Earth?" Now his attention was locked on Clara.
Kari couldn't help but let out a groan now. "Seriously, pay attention, Adrian. We're not human." She said, pointing to herself and the Doctor. "I have the time vortex flowing through me. The time vortex." She was trying to give him a bit of a hint, but it really wasn't working, he was still wearing a blank expression. "We're time travellers. We spend our time going from one place to another, visiting the past and the future. More often than not, we end up in trouble, or trouble ends up finding us. The Doctor has a habit of saving people and planets, so you know what, it's a pretty good job that he's here, considering your current situation."
Before anyone could say anything else, a creaking noise grasped their attention. Kari tensed, her hand tightening around the Doctor's, while everyone else looked around the area, trying to find the source of the sound. There was nothing there to see, nothing at all, not even a bird in the trees.
"Uh, what was that?" Clara asked in a whisper, knowing that everyone else was wondering the same thing.
"It may have just been the wind." Adrian said, his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case it was something more than the wind. "Or a bird. There are also the animals that live in the forest, it is possible it was a rabbit or something."
But Kari really wasn't so convinced, as there was a strange feeling washing over her. "Or none of the above." She muttered, before tugging at the Doctor's arm and facing him. "Doctor, something doesn't feel right. I don't know what it is, but it isn't right." The air felt too thick, too hot and sticky. She could feel something in the background, something watching them, waiting. "We're being watched, I don't know what's watching us, but I'm pretty sure something is watching us."
The Doctor had listened to every word that Kari had said, and taking notice of how she had said it, the way she was standing, the look in her eyes, every tiny little detail. He knew she was telling the truth, he knew that she was scared. Even Clara had picked up on it, as she shifted closer to the Doctor and Kari, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, her eyes darting in every direction.
"Yes, it's been there for a while, I noticed it as well." The Doctor admitted, trying to stop Kari from freaking out. "Not a woodland creature."
Kari could feel her throat tightening, as if someone was wrapping their hands around her neck, trying to stop her from breathing. And it hurt, it burned. "Doctor…" She managed to get out, her throat hurting her even more.
In a heartbeat he was scanning her with his sonic screwdriver, knowing that something was very wrong, seeing that she was in pain. "It's all right, Kari, it's going to be fine." He could see the tears building her eyes, and he knew that she was in pain. "Just relax." It was easy for him to say that, but it wasn't easy for Kari to do that.
"Doctor, what's wrong? What's going on?" Clara asked in a bit of a panic, seeing that Kari was struggling to breathe. "Kari?"
"Psychic link. But where is it coming from?" The Doctor muttered, trying to find an explanation for what was happening to his Kari. He didn't like it, and he wanted to stop it, but he wasn't entirely sure how he could do it.
Except Kari wasn't paying attention to either of them now, because there was something there, by the trees, watching them. Her eyes were locked with it, and she was trying to make sense of it, to understand what it really was. "Doctor…" She whispered, causing him to quickly turn his head and follow her gaze.
Clara and Adrian did the same thing, their eyes all widening at what they saw. "Doctor, what is that?" Clara squeaked, backing away a little, not impressed with what she was seeing.
But he ignored her, and kept his attention on it. "What do you see, Kari? Tell me exactly what you see."
"I… I don't… it's white, definitely white. It looks like fur, but no eyes. There's no eyes, no mouth, nothing like that at all." She explained, still finding it difficult to breathe properly. "Honestly, it just looks like a big ball of fur. There's nothing else there, nothing."
"What are you talking about?" Clara asked, still very much not happy with what she was seeing. "That is not right, what is it?"
"And what do you see, Clara? Because I sure as hell know what I'm seeing right now." Kari asked her, knowing that just because she was doubting her, the Doctor wasn't.
That took the woman by surprise, and she momentarily took her eyes away from what she was staring at. "A wolf. It's an enormous wolf. White fur, glowing red eyes, sharp teeth. Definitely a wolf. But… it looks wrong, it can't be real, tell me it isn't real."
Kari was actually glad that she was seeing a wolf, Adrian had told her that other people had seen a wolf before. "Well, I can tell you that I'm not seeing a wolf. Definitely not a wolf. Doctor, what are you seeing? Please tell me that it's not a wolf."
"Not a wolf. It looks more like bigfoot to me. A big, white, fluffy monster. I can see the giant hands and feet, nice razor sharp teeth ready to eat us." Kari couldn't believe how calm the Doctor was being. He was speaking as if it was nothing, and the fact that he could see the sharp teeth didn't bother him. "You know, he really isn't that scary."
"What are you?" Kari whispered, mainly to herself, as she continued to gaze at the furry mass. "What do you want?" All of a sudden, her head was filled with white noise. Her hands instantly flew to her ears, even though they were not going to block out the sound.
Her action was noticed by the Doctor in an instant. "Kari? Kari, what is it? What's happening?" But she couldn't answer him, she was too busy trying to block out the deafening sound in her head. "Kari, talk to me." The best Kari could do was let out a groan and look up at the creature.
All eyes turned once more to the creature, and for a moment, for the briefest of moments, everything seemed to stop. At least it did for Kari. In the blink of an eye, the Warper spun around and disappeared from sight. With the beast now out of sight, the noise in Kari's head lessened.
"Seriously, Doctor, what… what was that?" Clara asked, breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself down. "You need to start explaining what is going on, right now." It was easy for anyone to see that she was annoyed, and scared.
The Doctor, however, was paying no attention to Clara, his attention was now back on Kari. She was getting his full attention. "Kari, look at me. What happened, what did you see?" He asked her, his hands gently resting on her cheeks as he gazed into her eyes.
"Screaming, it… it was screaming." Kari managed to whisper, her eyes clouded over slightly still as she tried to pull herself back and out of the haze. "Whatever it was, it was in pain, Doctor. It was just screaming in my head, and it hurt."
"And what about now? Can you still hear it now?" He asked her, rather concerned about what had happened and how that creature had been able to affect Kari in that way.
With the Doctor's hands still on her cheeks, she shook her head a little. "No, it's gone now. When it disappeared so did the screaming. Doctor, I… I don't think it means to hurt anyone." There was just something about it, something that didn't seem right. The screams she could hear, they were of pain, not of anger or aggression. "I think someone has hurt it."
"That… that… thing, has already hurt people. It took my father away, it took my sister. There have been many others who have wandered off and never returned." Adrian yelled, clearly getting very frustrated and upset with the whole situation. "How can you say it doesn't mean to hurt people, it already has!"
The man had just made a very big mistake. He had shouted at Kari, in front of the Doctor. If there was one very simple way to make him your enemy, it was to take things out on his Kari. He didn't care if you had a good reason for it or not, if you shouted at her or hurt her in any way, you were his enemy. "And you know this for a fact, do you? Hmm? Have you actually seen that thing ever take anyone? Well?" The Doctor bellowed back, his hands dropping from Kari's face as he took a step towards the man. "Can you tell me that you have seen this creature take those people? Have you seen that with your own eyes?"
There was no way that Adrian could answer that, because he hadn't seen the beast actually take anyone. It was just an assumption that everyone had come to, there was a monster, people had disappeared, the monster was behind it all. Also, the man was a little afraid to answer, especially with the way that the Doctor was standing there before him, anger and annoyance glistening in his eyes.
"Doctor, don't." Kari called to him, doing her best to pull herself together. Obviously she was shaken from what had happened, but she knew that they needed to move. "The only way we are going to find out the truth is by following that thing. Isn't that the whole reason why you brought us here in the first place?" She reminded him, knowing full well that he had planned their trip there because of some story he had heard about a monster.
"Kari's right, Doctor." Clara told him, sensing that there was something Kari wasn't telling anyone. "You brought us here because of those stories you heard, you wanted to find out if it was real or a myth. Well, from what I've just seen, it's not a myth. Now, what are we going to do about it?" A small smile slipped onto Kari's face, she was glad Clara was there and was able to jump in for her, to talk to the Doctor and help get him back on task.
It took a few more moments, but the Doctor eventually backed away from Adrian, who was still looking rather terrified. "We've all seen it with our own eyes, we've all seen something different, but we've seen it. Now we need to find out where it's nest is."
A frown quickly formed on Kari's face. "Nest? Why does it have to be a nest?" She asked him as he walked back over to her. "Why can he live in a cave, or a tree house, or a tent made of leaves? Why does it have to be a nest?"
Now it was the Doctor's turn to frown at her. It wasn't because of what she had said about the nest, but something else she said had caught his attention. "'He', you said he. Why did you say, 'he'? How did you know it isn't a 'she'? Why a 'he'?"
In all honesty, Kari was entirely sure why she had said that. "I… I don't know, it's just… it's like something was just telling me to say that." It really wasn't something that she could explain, because she really didn't know why she had called the creature a 'he'. It wasn't as if there was actually a voice in the back of her head telling her what to say, it was more like something pushing the word towards her and encouraging her to say it.
The Doctor didn't question her any further, he knew that she couldn't explain it, and he wasn't going to ramble on about all the different reasons for why she may have said it. Instead, he took a hold of her hand and they started walking once more.
This time, Clara was standing on the other side of Kari, with Adrian at the end. She hadn't been impressed with his little outburst either, but she did understand where he was coming from. What Clara also knew was that the Doctor was now going to be even more protective of Kari. That worried look hadn't faded from his eyes, and Clara knew that meant trouble for anyone who crossed him.
They were trying their best to follow the trail that the so-called Warper had left, but the snow had started falling from the sky at a rapid rate, making it rather difficult. The tracks were quickly being covered by the fresh powder, and with the wind picking up, it was making it even harder to see anything at all.
"We should head back." Adrian bellowed through the wind and snow. "There is no way we are going to get anywhere with the weather like this. We can't follow it, the trail is being covered up."
The Doctor had barely even heard the man over the howling noise around him, but he found it pretty easy to work out what he was saying. They were all huddled together, trying to protect themselves, to keep the chill out. It really wasn't working very well. Kari could hardly even keep her eyes open with the way the harsh wind was blowing at them.
"Doctor, he's right. We can barely see anything out here." Clara shouted, wishing for the warmth of the TARDIS. "We aren't going to find it in this blizzard."
He stopped and turned to look at Kari. She was hanging onto his arm tightly, her head bowed down as she braced herself for the weather. "What do you think, Kari? Do you think it's time to give up and head back?"
"We have to find that thing, Doctor, we have to." Kari replied to him, not actually moving to look up at him, just tucking herself in closer towards him. "Something was wrong with it, it was hurt. If you had heard the screaming, you wouldn't give up either."
"But what about the possibility that it is a killer?" The Doctor asked her, wondering what her perspective of the creature really was like now. "It chased you, Kari. That thing was chasing after you and you only got away from it because tantrum boy over there stepped in."
This time, she managed to turn her head a little to look up at him. "Yeah, and no one knows what would have happened if that thing had caught up with me. I mean, I was lost and I needed help, I ran because I didn't know what I was facing and… and I was already a little upset."
It took a moment for him to realised that she had been upset because of what had happened between them when they had been heading towards the city. "So, you want to carry on looking, then?"
She nodded at him. "I can't get that noise out of my head, Doctor. It was horrible." That noise had really bothered her, and there was no way that she was going to be able to forget it any time soon. She needed to find out the truth, because something about that creature just didn't seem right to her, even before she heard the screams.
"We keep going. If we don't then we will lose it and this will have all just been a great big waste of time." The Doctor announced. Of course he was going to listen to Kari, not only was she right, but he really needed to make things right with her. He hoped that listening to her and finding the creature was going to be a step in the right direction with that.
Clara couldn't help but let out a groan. "Oh, well isn't that just great. They have a little conversation in their heads and then decide that we have to keep on trying to trudge through this rotten weather." She didn't want to carry on, she really did not want to wander any further into that forest.
Kari and the Doctor just ignored her, knowing that responding to her would just make things even worse. It was easier for them to just keep on walking, and to let the other two catch up to them when they were ready. "Clara seems a little… irritated." Kari noted to the Doctor as they carried on trying to follow the trail.
"It's probably the weather. I did warn you both that it was going to be cold here, and I know you've dress appropriately, but she could have done with putting on some thermals." She couldn't help but chuckle a little at that comment of his. "Ah, so you haven't forgotten how to laugh. I was starting to wonder if you had."
"Oh please, me, forget how to laugh? How is that even possible when you have this habit of wearing bow ties, vegetables, and insist on using the strangest of catchphrases." For a moment there, she forgot exactly who it was she was talking to. She knew it was the Doctor, but for some reason it felt like a different version of him.
There was a slight smirk on the Doctor's face now for some reason. "You think my dress sense is weird, have you looked in the mirror lately?" At that comment, Kari turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised. He knew that if he said anything more, he was going to be in big trouble, and he was still trying to get out of the dog house as it was. "Because you always look so lovely. I dress badly to make you look even better."
This time, Kari actually burst out laughing. Of course, her little outburst of laughter made Clara roll her eyes and Adrian just stop and look at her with a strange expression on his face. It was a mix between confusion and concern, like he couldn't quite decide how he should react to the laughing. The only one who found it amusing, was the Doctor, who was smiling away at her. "Nope, you've definitely not forgotten how to laugh." He said aloud, allowing both Clara and Adrian to hear him.
"Shut up." She managed to breathe through her subsiding laughs, giving the Doctor a light shove. "That was pathetic, that was why I was laughing. I told you, you insist on saying the strangest things." Kari really hadn't been able to help laughing at what he had said, because it was one of the most pathetic saves he had ever come out with.
"Doctor, did you really have to start her off?" Clara now moaned, since they had stopped and she was really starting to feel the cold. It didn't matter how much she wrapped her arms around herself, she was not going to block out that icy wind. "Look, we're not going to get anywhere now, we should just head back." Unfortunately, a creaking and cracking sound stopped whatever the Doctor was going to say, and cause Kari's laughing to cease. "Uh, what was that?"
"That… that didn't sound very good." Kari added, having sobered up very quickly from her little laughing fit. It hadn't really been a giggle fit, just some laughs.
When she looked at the Doctor, she saw the very serious, and very concerned look on her his face. "No, it didn't." He told her, before scanning everywhere around them. As he looked, the noise was heard once more, only slightly louder. "You know what, I think we should probably head back." The Doctor wanted didn't actually want to go back, but he had a bad feeling, and when he had that bad feeling, his first instinct was to get Kari to safety.
"That's the best thing you've said all day." Clara told him in relief. She would be glad to get back to somewhere warm, where she could sit down and, essentially, defrost. "Come on then, let's go." She turned around, took one step, and the noise sounded again.
The colour had now all drained from Kari's face, as she had worked out exactly what that noise was. "Uh, Doctor… I think we're in a little bit of trouble here." She warned him, knowing that they needed to think of something, and fast.
"I know. There's only one thing for it." He replied, before looking at her. "Run!" They both ended up shouting at exactly the same moment.
He kept a tight hold of her hand as they ran as fast as they could, back the way they had come, Clara and Adrian running ahead of them. As they all moved, the ground shifted and grumbled beneath them, creaking with every pounding step they took. Kari could admit that her hearts were pounding in her chest as well, because she was more afraid of what was happening now than she had been of the Warper.
"Keep moving!" The Doctor yelled, not daring to look back to where they had just been standing, he knew what had happened just as much as Kari did. Right now, the creature they had seen was not important, getting back to safety was. "Don't stop, just keep moving!" He called, noticing that Clara and Adrian had slowed a little.
The ground they were running on shook violently, and an ear splitting crack sounding all around them. Then, one of the scenarios that the Doctor had been afraid of happened. He heard Kari scream, only for a second, and her hand slipped out of his. By the time he had turned around, she was gone, a big gaping hole where she had been standing, icy water splashing around the sides of the hole. They had realised all too late that they were walking across a frozen lake, one that had a soft layer of snow on top, hiding the dangers.
"Kari! Kari!" The Doctor shouted, kneeling down next to the gap where Kari fell through. "Kari!" Without another moment of thought, he yanked off his jacket, planning on going in the hole himself, knowing that he had to save his Kari.
"Doctor! What are you doing!" Clara shouted at him, grabbing him by the arm, trying to stop him. "That water is freezing, you cannot be seriously considering going in there?" The woman was worried about Kari as well, but she was worried about the Doctor as well. She cared about both of them, but she knew that if the Doctor went in there as well, she would have to find a way to save both of them.
"Oh, as if I would leave Kari down there. Of course I'm serious." The Doctor retorted, tugging his arm away from Clara, his mind set on going after her.
The only person that wasn't getting involved was Adrian, and that was because his eyes were too fixed on something else, something not too far from them, hacking at the ice. "It's too late." He muttered, causing both the Doctor and Clara to glance at him. "The Snow Warper is after her, he'll get her. I'm sorry, but your friend is gone."
The Doctor and Clara really didn't know what to do, let alone say, as they watched the creature easily break through the ice. Each of them still saw something different, but they all saw the same actions. It reached into the water, and they all stood there frozen in place as it pulled something out, a body. Kari.
A/N: I'm going to keep this short. I will try to update when I can, but if I can't find the motivation to write, it will take a while longer. I also want to just thank everyone who has stuck by me and my stories while this is all going on. You guys are the best.
Untill next time...
Pippa.