A/N: Hello there everyone, been a while, huh? I'm sorry about that, at the moment my life is a constant spiral and my head has been up in the clouds. This probably isn't the best chapter, and I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry if there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors still floating around. I'll clear them up when I can. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
The Doctor was running, as fast as he possibly could. The Warper had charged off with an unconscious Kari, and there was no way he was going to abandon her, no matter what Adrian said. His mind was set on one thing and one thing alone, Kari. He was barreling through the forest, not caring about the trees that were whacking him every now and again, it meant nothing to him.
He had to move as quickly as he could, because he had to make sure he didn't lose the Warper's tracks, if he did… well, he didn't want to even consider that. "I'm coming, Kari, I'm coming." He muttered to himself as he went, both his hearts pounding hard in his chest. In his mind he could see two things, Kari falling through the ice, and the Warper taking her away. But it was her scream, the scream that lasted for such a short time, that kept replaying in his head.
While he was running off ahead, Clara was some distance behind him, following his tracks, with Adrian there beside her. "It's pointless, you're never going to find her, she's gone." He told her, having no hope what-so-ever of them seeing Kari again. He thought it was a shame really, because he thought she had been a rather nice person.
"Yeah? Well, you don't know the Doctor." Clara replied, trying to keep her voice normal as she ran. It was difficult, because she really did want to stop and take a few deep breaths, but she knew she couldn't. "He would do anything for Kari. He'd go to the end of universe to protect her, and actually, I think he has. Several times." She told him, knowing that there was no way they would be leaving that planet without Kari.
"The Warper has her, she is already dead. All you are doing is getting us all into danger." It was pretty easy to see that he did not want to be there with them now. Sure, he had wanted to deal with the Warper, he had wanted to free his people of it, but now they were on a suicide mission. "We should head back to the city and plan our next move. Surely you can see the sense in that."
Clara couldn't help but laugh. "The Doctor has already planned his next move. He knows what he's doing, and I trust him." She said, before slowing down and stopping. "Look, if you're too scared, then fine, go back. Go back to your city and tell everyone what happened to Kari, tell them that she was taken by the Warper. But when you do, tell them that the Doctor has gone to find her, to get her back, because he will." A second later and Clara was running again, letting out a slight groan of annoyance at the distance between herself and the Doctor.
Adrian just stood there watching the woman charge away from him, thinking over her words. He had seen the way the Doctor looked at Kari, and the way that she looked at him, and he knew there was something more there than he could ever imagine. And then he thought of his sister. When she went missing, his young brother was a complete and utter mess. He had gone straight out to search for her, he didn't care what other people said, he was determined to find her, because she was his sister. Even now he hadn't given up hope, he was still searching for her. He understood why the Doctor wouldn't give up.
With a deep breath, he began to run again, pushing himself harder to catch up to Clara, and hopefully the Doctor as well. They could still see him, just about, speeding through the trees and after that white beast. "Do you really think he is going to find her?" Adrian called to Clara as he finally caught up to her.
"I know he will find her. She is everything to him, and he will never give up." She replied, knowing that the Doctor would tear that world apart to find Kari. There was nothing that could stand in his way, no beast or any other living creature. Clara had seen it before, the lengths he would go to for the woman he loved more than anything in the universe, and Kari was that woman.
While they were trying to catch up, the Doctor was still charging off ahead. He could see the tracks from whatever it was that had taken Kari, and he was not going to give up. So many things were running through his mind, whether she was all right, it the creature had done anything to her, if she was awake yet.
He was trying to find her, in his mind, to make sure she was all right, but he couldn't focus. The Doctor's mind was far too crowded, mainly with thoughts of Kari, and it was making it impossible for him to concentrate on trying to find her. Either way, he was not giving up.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
A slight groan escaped from Kari's lips as she was dragging back into consciousness. Her head was feeling very fuzzy, and trying to open her eyes seemed to be a real challenge for her, straight away she knew something wasn't right. The first thing that gave it away was the quietness of wherever she was, the only sound that she could hear was the crackling of a fire burning.
She stayed as still as she could, making sure that it looked as if she were still asleep. She needed to work out where she was, and what was going on, because she already knew that she was on her own. Kari felt a kind of emptiness, the one she felt when the Doctor wasn't around, and that made her even more sure that something wasn't entirely right.
All she wanted was the Doctor, she wanted him to just appear, to be there and to take her back to the TARDIS, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. Everything around her was still too quiet, too silent and still. There really was no other option, she was going to have to open her eyes and find out where she actually was and what was going on.
Kari remembered hearing the ice cracking, and then the sudden sensation of feeling absolutely freezing. She only felt the cold for a few seconds before it became too much for her and she lost consciousness, there were no memories after that point. Kari had no idea where the Doctor was, if he was all right, if Clara and Adrian were all right as well.
It took a few moments for her to pull some courage together, but Kari finally pulled herself together enough to open her eyes. She blinked a few times, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness that was around her. Straight away she saw the fire that was burning close to her, and the fact that she was in some kind of cave. The only light was coming from the fire, and that really didn't help her that much.
What she also noticed was the warmth coming from whatever was draped over her. As she sat up slowly, it slipped away and down into her lap. Kari looked down at it and her stomach twisted slightly. Fur. It was fur that had been tossed over her, real fur, fur that once would have been part of an animal, a living, breathing, creature. Now the fear and panic was rising in her even more. She had no idea where she was, but whatever had taken her there seemed to have a taste for animals.
In the end, Kari had to squeeze her eyes shut tightly, to calm her racing hearts and try to breathe a little easier. It most definitely wasn't an easy task, but she knew that she had to try. The Doctor wasn't there, and she wasn't going to just sit around and wait for him to come and find her, if he was even looking for her. Just thinking of the Doctor made her think back to how their relationship seemed to have changed, how cold he seemed to be with her. And that only made things worse.
Several moments later, she had built up the courage to open her eyes once more. The sight of the fur no longer bothered her, but Kari still swept it away as quickly as she could, not really wanting to touch it much. With that now gone, she pulled her legs up to her chest as she sat up, her eyes still scanning everywhere. There was still no sign of any other kind of life, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
As she forced herself to her feet, an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that always brought trouble. Kari knew that she was no longer alone, there was something watching her, hidden in the corner, slightly out of sight. She had been able to feel the presence the moment it entered the place where she was, and she knew it was watching her.
"Whoever you are, I'm not here to hurt you." Kari called, trying to keep her voice calm and steady even though she was shaking a little inside still. "I just want to know where I am, and get back to the city." She wondered if it was even worth talking, trying to explain that she just wanted to leave, to get back out there and find her friends, to find the Doctor.
To her surprise, the figure stepped out of the darkness and the shadows, and Kari was able to see exactly who was with her. Her eyes widened as the flames from the fire gave the white fur of the beast a soft orange glow. It certainly wasn't what she was expecting to see, and she didn't quite know how to react to it. She didn't really have a chance to do anything, as the sound that had plagued her head before, when facing the creature with the Doctor, had returned.
Her hands flew to her ears, covering them tightly, her eyes being squeezed shut while she tried to focus on anything but the noise. The Doctor wasn't there to distract her, Kari knew that she had to find a way to get through it without hearing his voice. It was such a maddening sound, a scream that shook every single bone in her body. The worse thing was, she couldn't even pinpoint where all the noise was coming from, it was inside of her head, and she couldn't get it out.
"Stop it. Please, stop it." Kari ended up whispering to no one in particular. "Please, make it stop." She had fallen to her knees, tears streaming rapidly down her warm cheeks. She could make out the screams in what she was hearing, the screams and the sobbing. There were voices flittering around in the background, but she just couldn't get a grasp on them, they were changing and moving so quickly. "Make it stop."
What Kari hadn't been aware of was the creature that everyone was so terrified of had been there watching her the whole time, she had just forgotten the creature was even there. While she scrunched up her eyes and tried to block it out, the thing had moved closer towards her, it was almost right beside her now.
Just as quickly as the sound started, the disappeared, much to Kari's relief, and very much like the last time it had happened. She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as she sunk a little further down on her knees, relieved and a little exhausted. There was no way to explain how painful those sounds had been, and how grateful shew as that they had stopped. Then she remembered, that Warper had been in the room with her just before it all started, she had forgotten that it was even there.
Her eyes flew open and her head turned to the directions of where it had once been standing. Kari let out a slight shriek as she saw the beast was now right there in front of her, and she crawled backwards a few spaces on the cold ground of the cave. Now both of her hearts were pounding in her chest once more, and her eyes were glued to the white mass before her. However, this time there was something different. What she was looking at, it didn't seem the same now, but she wasn't entirely sure what it was.
"I… I'm not here to harm you or anything. I don't even know how I ended up here." She told the Warper quietly, holding her hands out in front of her, wishing with everything she had that the Doctor was actually there to help her. "Whatever you are, I'm not here for trouble."
Time seemed to pass by so slowly as both kept gazing at each other, and at one point Kari was sure that the Warper was going to pounce upon her. Instead, it took a step back and away from Kari, clearly having no intention of getting too close to her and scaring her. Kari quickly picked up on that, the fact that it was backing away, giving her space. It made her wonder if it could actually understand her.
Part of her wanted it to understand her, Kari wanted to be able to communicate with it, to find out what was really going on. She strongly believed that all the talk about the creature, all the horrible things it had done, was nothing more than talk and rumors. The feeling she was getting from it was telling her once more that everything was not as it appeared, and she desperately wanted to find out the truth about it all.
"Do you even understand me?" Of course that was what was also running through her mind. She was, in her own opinion, talking to a great big lump of white fur. While others had actually seen recognisable shapes, or animals, she just saw the mass of white fur, and it was bothering her. "I don't even know if you can hear me."
She wished that the Doctor was there, he'd know what to say and what to do. He would have already worked out what the creature really was and they would already be on their way back to the city. She would be sitting there on the ground inside a massive cave with a ball of white fur standing before her, watching her every single move. No, she'd be safely with the Doctor.
No. Kari was better than that, she could do it herself. She could show the Doctor and everyone else that she was just as good as he was, that she was capable of doing everything that he was. She didn't need to rely on him all the time, she knew she could make it without him if she only tried. Well, she was definitely going to try now.
She pushed herself up from the floor, dusting herself down and doing her best not to look at the sheets of fur that were still there. The thought of what animal they came from popped into her head, as well as how they were killed and if the white creature there before her was responsible. When she drew her eyes back up to look at the Warper once more, Kari gasped in shock and stumbled back a little. No longer was it a featureless lump, just a mound of white fur that she had been seeing since the start, for now she could see a pair of eyes gazing back at her.
There was a few moments of silence while she tried to pull herself back together and find her voice. "Okay… okay, this is… this is weird." Kari didn't really know what else to say. There had been no sound coming from the Warper, it hadn't tried to speak to her. "I want to help you, honestly, I do. The problem is, I don't know how." And it was true, she did want to help. That feeling that it wasn't a monster was still there, and growing even more now. "I fell through the ice. I was with the Doctor, and we were running, and the ice cracked, and I fell through. The water was cold, it was so cold. But I wasn't in there for long, someone pulled me out. The next thing I know, I'm here." She had already made her own conclusion, she was just trying to get a little verification. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one that saved me."
All she could do was keeping looking at those eyes that were now visible before her. Kari wondered if they had been there all along and she just hadn't noticed them, but she was so sure that they hadn't been there before. Before she could question it any further, that ear piercing screaming was back in her head again. In an instant she dropped to her knees, clasping her hands tightly against her ears, wishing the noise would stop. It was such an unbearable sound, and it done nothing but made her head hurt.
As quickly as it started, it stopped, and Kari slowly opened her eyes. This time, there were tears calmly drifting down her cheeks. "All the screaming… All that pain…" She ended up muttering to herself as she stayed resting on her knees on the cold, hard ground. "Where is it coming from?" Kari didn't have time to think on it, as a pair of eyes coming into her view startled her.
They were so close, and she could see them so clearly now. Kari wondered how she could have missed them before, they were such a striking blue, the kind that stand out in a crowd, that seem to just light up everything. And human. They looked so human to her. They didn't look like the eyes of an animal or a beast, they didn't look like any creature's eyes she had ever seen before, they were completely human, and they were full to the brim with sadness.
What she was now able to notice was that it didn't seem to be as large, it wasn't towering over her, the creature really didn't seem as threatening any more. In fact, it was only a little taller than she was. Kari was pretty sure that when she had first seen the thing, out there in the forest, when it was chasing after her, it had been a good few feet taller than her. She distinctly remember having to crane her neck to look up at it, to get a better look at it, and its size. Only, it wasn't really that big any more, it wasn't that scary.
Any fear that Kari had felt had quickly dispersed. Whatever it was that was there before her, it wasn't trying to hurt her, it had in fact saved her life. She had told the Doctor before that it was in pain, and know she was even more sure of that fact. She could see the pain and suffering in those human eyes, she could recognise it in an instant. It was something she had seen in the Doctor's eyes before, when thinking of Gallifrey, from when they had argued and said some rather horrid things to each other. She knew that look, those eyes were begging with her, pleading for her help. How could Kari refuse?
She slowly pulled herself together and off the cold, hard ground, keeping her eyes locked with that of the creature. "Do you need help? Is there something wrong? Is there something or someone that is hurting you?" Kari asked it, waiting patiently, hoping that it was able to understand her.
A nod came from the Warper, and it's eyes lit up a little before it turned away from Kari and moved towards a tunnel over to the other side of the cave. But Kari remained still, she hadn't been sure if it would be able to understand a word she was saying, but it had, and it did need help. She was really starting to hope that everything she had started to think about the Snow Warper was right, and that those stories being told about it were nothing more than just that, stories.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The Doctor's pace had slowed a little, but only because he was struggling to keep on the track. Due to that, he was getting more frustrated, and angry. The snow had started to come down rather heavily, the wind blowing the fresh white powder in all directions. Clara was absolutely frozen, the supposedly warm clothing that she had picked from the TARDIS wardrobe seemed to be doing nothing to help her. Her fingers felt like blocks of ice, and her cheeks felt like they were frozen solid. She wanted to go back to the city, or the TARDIS, anywhere that was warm.
A low growl escaped from the Doctor's mouth. "It's getting harder to track them, but I'm sure it came through this way." He said, scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver. It was managing to track them still by picking up traces of Kari, of her energy, of the time vortex. That was actually a relief to him, it meant that she really wasn't dead, she was most definitely alive if he could still track her energy signature. "We just have to keep following them."
Clara hadn't missed the concern that was in his voice, or the worried look that was on his face. "How far do you think they will have gotten, Doctor?" She asked, her arms wrapped around herself tightly as she rubbed them, and continued to wish that she was somewhere nice and warm.
The Doctor wanted to tell her that they would catch up with them pretty soon, but he knew lying to Clara wasn't going to make anything better. "Far enough. We need to keep moving." He was not going to give up, not matter how difficult it was to keep tracking that beast and his Kari, there was no way that the Doctor was going to stop looking.
"That thing that took her, what is it really, Doctor?" Clara had been thinking about that a lot, about what she had seen and what everyone else had seen as well. How could they have been looking at the same thing only to see something completely different.
"I have several theories, just like Kari did. The only way to find out which one is right is by finding it." The Doctor's theories were based on what Kari had told him, about the creature being in pain, the screaming that she could hear. Even the fact that all she could see was a lump of white fur made him question everything that he was seeing. Now, the problem was narrowing down exactly what was going on. He had established that there was something odd, something that wasn't right, about the whole thing, but what was causing it?
Clara couldn't help but shiver as she let out a long breath. "How did I know you were going to say that?" Although she was still absolutely freezing and desperate for some warmth, Clara knew that she would stick with the Doctor until they found Kari, until they had her back safe and sound. "Do you at least have a plan?"
"Apart from finding that thing and Kari?" The Doctor queried, bending down to inspect a patch of snow. "Working out where that psychic link was coming from." He hadn't forgotten that either, that someone had created a link to Kari and was causing her pain. That was still bothering him as well, there seemed to be too many things that he couldn't explain, and the Doctor certainly did not like that.
She knew there was no point talking to him much more, he was too focused on finding Kari, which she was totally okay with. Instead, she turned to Adrian. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this Warper? And what about those people that went missing, is there anything to link them all?" She wasn't just going to stand around, Clara knew that she had to help.
"I told you, you are never going to find her. People tried to find my father, and I have been looking for my sister ever since she disappeared, but it is impossible. They all just vanished without a trace, they were all out there on their own, and the beast picked them off." Adrian informed her, trying to keep faith that they would find Kari, but very quickly losing it.
"Well, maybe they just got lost and ended up somewhere that they didn't know, and they couldn't remember the way." Clara suggested, just trying to work it all out in her head. There had to be a sensible reason for what had happened, she really hoped that there was.
Adrian just shook his head at her. "We searched everywhere, spent people to the towns and villages, they had missing people as well." That was a new piece of information to both the Doctor and Clara, and the Doctor quickly stood up and looked at him. "In total there was 72 missing people, but I fear that it is much higher now."
"These towns and villages, tell me, do they line this forest?" The look on his face was a difficult one to read, it was one that Kari would have been able to read in seconds, and Clara desperately wished that she was there with them now.
"Yes, this forest is the centre of our Empire, it has been since the beginning. It is said that it was first just a small village, the people living their used to hunt in the forest and gather their fruits. Soon enough, more people came and it was transformed into a relatively large town. It's popularity continued to grow, and it wasn't long before it turned into a wondrous city. Others began to do the same, set up around the forest as it was a good place for hunting, gather, and because they enjoyed the beauty it provided." It was clear the man was proud of his home, of the place that he protected and the people that lived there.
"How long ago did you say this Warper arrived and started kidnapping your people?" There was something niggling away at the back of the Doctor's mind, and he really didn't like it. He had to clear it up, because he had to find Kari.
"Uh, 48 years ago."
There was something in the Doctor's eyes now, something different. "And around 48 years ago, or maybe a little more, could be 50 or even 60, did anything else happen? What else does your history tell you? Is there any other strange event that was recorded before the Warper appeared?" He said, taking Adrian by surprise a little. He wasn't exactly expecting that kind of question to be thrown at him.
He stumbled over his words at first, but Adrian was finally able to answer. "I… I don't know. The historians, they would have written it all down, they would have made a record of it." He didn't like questions being fired at him like that.
A sight slipped out of Clara's mouth, she knew what was coming next. "And let me guess, those are back at the Palace, right?" Adrian nodded at her, still a little stunned and a tiny bit scared. "Right, come on then, we'll head back and have a look. I'll call you if we find anything, Doctor."
This time it was the Doctor who was a little stunned as he looked at Clara. "You know, I was actually thinking that, might be a good idea, well done Clara." Of course he had to act as if he wasn't surprised at all by what she had said and suggested.
"Well, I was just thinking what Kari would do if she was here. It makes the most sense, we're just slowing you down, you'd have a better chance of catching up to them without us." Clara admitted to him, knowing that even though he was covering it pretty well, he was still brimming with worry and panic inside. "We can go and find out everything we can about this Warper and anything else that might have happened. You need to go and find Kari."
"Exactly. I can move quicker on my own, we don't know if Kari is in trouble, I need to find her as quickly as I can." He said, knowing that it was the best plan of action and that Clara would be safer back in the city. "Go back 48 years, further if you have, just look for anything that can explain where the Warper came from. Obviously it wasn't her originally, otherwise they would never have hung around to set up their homes."
Clara couldn't help but smile at him, it looked like he may have been onto something, and she really hoped that he was. "Got it. Now go, I'll let you know what we find."
With a quick nod, the Doctor turned and took two steps away from Clara and Adrian before stopping and turning back to face them. "Phone. Kari has her phone, you have yours, I don't have a phone, people usually just call the TARDIS." He hadn't exactly thought about that part, he hadn't even thought to call Kari to see if she was all right. Then again, he didn't even know if her phone would be working after a dip in the freezing cold icy lake.
Once again, Clara smile. "Inside jacket pocket." She told him, watching as he shoved his hand into that pocket before pulling out a mobile phone. "Kari put it in there, thought you might need it one day. I think she is always sneaking it into your jackets, just incase something happens." She knew that her friend did. It was a little thing that Kari did without him know, because she knew it would always moan about having it, it wasn't the kind of device he liked to carry around with him. Except she knew that he would one day need it, she always knew.
"Oh, she is clever. Always thinking ahead, always trying to keep one step ahead of me. That's my Kari." The Doctor said, beaming away as he looked down at the phone. "Right, time to go. Oh, and Adrian, you better keep her safe." He added, giving the man a very long and hard stare, before bolt off and into the forest. There was absolutely no time to lose, he had to find his Kari.
A/N: I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has stuck by me and my stories. Life has been getting tougher, things have been going wrong at every turn and I've found myself wanting to give up on everything. But then I get an email, a notification about a PM or a review, and it makes me want to push through everything that is getting me down. So thank you for helping me through the bad times.
I am going to TRY to end this storyline in the next chapter, even if it makes it a longer than usual. I need to get back on track and back into the swing of things. You've all been really kind and supportive, and that means so much to me. I want to continue this story so much, I want you all to keep loving it, so I will try harder, I promise.
There is so much more that I could say, but I won't. All I will do is ask you a question, did you like this chapter?
Pippa.