She was still there.
The Doctor felt her hand on his face. The skin of her hands were rough. There was plenty of time for him to sort out what her hand felt like. There was a scratch scar on her right ring finger, and her right pointer. It was either a burn or another scar on her right palm, just below her middle finger. From his adventures, or from her time with the Master? The Doctor couldn't tell. He spent ages trying to guess.
Days
Months
Decades
Not even he could tell anymore.
She was still there. For all of it.
The Doctor knew it wasn't permanent.
==MGCB==
They came to the planet Calibris. Terra enjoyed it on previous visits. Back with Rose and his Tenth self, they came to visit for repairs. Brunette Terra left the place with a lot of tech, some stolen and some purchased. Soren liked her. He told the Doctor he was happy to see him with a friend. With the Ginger Terra, they visited after crashing into the Titanic. Terra helped him reconstruct the TARDIS. She was much brighter and cheerier, and Soren liked meeting the new faces.
They came this time because, well, parts got old on his TARDIS. Calibris was the only place the Doctor trusted to get replacement parts. Soren always had something for him, any time he went, that worked perfectly. Donna didn't appreciate it. She wanted the planet of the Boys.
"There is no planet of the Boys!"
"There's a million trillion planets out there! Somewhere there is a planet of the Boys just dancing about in their pants! Terra, tell him!"
"I mean...there could be."
"Terra don't keep her going. Besides, even if there was, I'm not sure they worship wenches!"
"They'd start!" Terra offered, giggling and cheerful. "You're a great wench, Donna!"
"Thank you!"
"Yes, thanks for that."
Anyway. Calibris. Great big planet. Full of metal, of broken rockets used as shop fronts, all to get to Soren and get that part.
Terra kept getting side tracked with new stores, with that one part she desperately needed. The Doctor kept forgetting to drag her away. Donna kicking his shin didn't help his memory as much as she claimed.
They all got distracted. A man was playing a trumpet- well not a trumpet. Think bagpipes but a trumpet. As the Doctor and Donna listened and complained, Terra tossed him some coins.
She picked them up along the way. A good pickpocket, she was.
The man collected the money with a grin. Before he left, the police arrived. The Doctor used the psychic paper to keep the man out of a jail cell. Only after the coppers left did the Doctor realize that police didn't belong on Calibris.
Terra agreed. "Last time, you said this place was too chaotic for any sort of police."
"Yeah...I did. Anyway, Soren's place is just up here."
Soren greeted them with the usual pleasantries. The Doctor flustered at the overly polite greeting for Terra, while Donna took it in stride.
Soren grumbled while getting the replacement part. Terra asked him about the police outside.
"Bad for business if too many people poke their noses where it ain't wanted." Terra said.
Soren laughed, as he always did. "Bet you would keep 'em off me."
Terra giggled. Soren kept asking. Terra kept saying no.
Soren explained it was from the customs office. People sent to straighten Calibris out. The Doctor laughed, telling Terra that it happened every few centuries. This time the police were from the planet Vacintia. A very advanced society, but full of rules to keep themselves neat and tidy. Not evil! Just sticklers for rules.
"So. They hated you?" Terra guessed.
The Doctor grinned. "I hated the paperwork."
Terra rolled her eyes, smiling.
The customs police came to Soren's. Siren ran, dashed out the back door with a wink at Terra. It left them without a replacement.
With nothing better to do, they went for a walk. Terra suggested they find that tavern again from last time.
"That guy looks like he's already been." Donna joked, pointing to a man down an alleyway. More people were down there with him. An alleyway of groaning, too thin people.
'Doctor. They're not hungover, are they?'
'No. No it's not. Happens on Calibris sometimes-'
'What's wrong with them? They feel- they feel wrong.'
He should.
But then the Doctor looked. Really, really looked.
They groaned out for help. The words came out slurred- no. They came out slowed down. As if the man was stuck in a time bubble that slowed him down.
Traces of time modulators.
Donna called out for help from the police. They took one look at the man, and knew it.
"More victims." They said.
"Victim of whatever you are investigating?" Terra asked. "Is that why you're here? In my experience, space police only pay attention to a planet to this extent if they're hunting for something on it. What're you looking for that could do this?"
"Time Reaver guns." The officer replied.
The Doctor felt his stomach drop, hours ago in that alleyway.
-It dropped again now. Her hand moved just that little bit further away.-
==MGCB==
Time Reavers. The worst weapons to ever have existed.
A time modulator. It doesn't kill you, not exactly. It would be kinder to just kill you. Even Weeping Angels were kinder than a Time Reaver gun. Angels at least let you live in normal motion. Time Reavers forced you to live in a slowed down time. Every instant feels like an hour, if you are lucky. Unlucky people were stuck in a Time Reaver bomb were every single second feels like months or years.
-Her nails dug into his cheek for a dozen years.-
The victims in the alley were shot on purpose, like addicts. Shit the first time during a bout of happiness, so they felt that happiness for ages. When they came out of it, they craved it all over again. It works. Until they starve to death.
-Terra liked to keep her nails short. The Doctor wished she kept them long, just this once. Then he would've felt her hand for another handful of decades-
The Doctor went to the customs office to complain. He met with the Vacintian customs officer to yell at them about the existence of Time Reavers. The whole planet- the whole galaxy was in danger with those things around.
He saw the danger they posed. As the customs officer downplayed the danger, the Doctor went off. Retelling old adventures where Time Reavers were used. Old friends and acquaintances with lives ruined because of those guns. The Doctor remembered having to hold some companions back from violence, though he wished he'd let them go to watch them throw a punch. Ace was always good for that.
Time Reavers were supposed to be gone. He made sure of it himself. But now they were back.
-back. Back. Back please come back. Please it's been so long come BACK-
The Vacintian, Rone, assured the Doctor that they were doing their absolute best to clean it all up. When the Doctor called bullshit (as Terra would say), Donna said he and Terra were Time Lords. Rone confirmed it. He was more willing to help afterwards. He gave the Doctor and Terra a form to prove to the officers that they acted on Rone's behalf.
Terra took it. The Doctor looked ready to tear-
-tearing me apart. It's draining me. Killing me. I feel like I'm dying. Why are you leaving? Tell me why you're leaving TELL ME please don't go please stay need you to stay want you to stay need my friend can't be alone again please please please-
Rone told them of a missing Vacintian, probably captured by a gang that peddled the Time Reavers. Find them, and all their problems get fixed. Terra loved missing person cases best.
-Nancy and Jaime, looking for a list child found them all found Jack Terra saved them all. TVs sucking away faces Rose's face gone Terra helped get her back. That lonely little girl and alien, missing people in her drawings, Terra singing her to peace.
4023 missing people. Terra meeting new friends. Old friends. Hated River. Trusted River. Trusted Twilight so much more than him. Why. Why them. Why pick them. What did they have? What did he do wrong?
She loved missing people
She loved bringing them back home
The Doctor wondered if that's why she stuck around him this long. Him, a lost little boy running away from home, lost, missing. Terra stayed to bring him back. She always brought him back.
Please come back-
The Doctor took Terra and Donna to Vagabond's Reach. Donna told Terra to bring out her guns, try and intimidate people. Terra started to do it. The Doctor advised against it. Donna said Rone was hiding something. The Doctor dismissed it, probably nothing more than another form to sign. Terra said she'd have signed it. Donna said she'd fold it into origami again.
Terra giggled, not denying it.
Vagabond's Reach was the tavern. Or a tavern. Calibris had a lot of those. This one was a particular favorite of Terra's. They were one of the rare bars that believed her as an adult, despite her youthful appearance.
They walked inside.
"It's not even got bouncers!"
Terra laughed. "We're all bouncers here."
The Doctor agreed. Last time, someone noticed how much Terra drank. They thought she was too drunk to say no. They tried...dancing...with her. A polite refusal was ignored. Terra kicked his arse, and threw him out the doors so hard he flew a good twenty yards. The whole place cheered. More people bought her drinks. If Martha hadn't been waking up, they would've stayed for ages.
This time, they were treated far more kindly. A few words to the right man got them to meet with the boss. A short man, with an octopus for a head. Beside him, a young Vacintian girl tied in a chair.
Terra went to untie the girl. When the creature tried to stop her, Terra pulled out her gun. She aimed it at his face. Donna gasped, stepping closer to the Doctor.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who doesn't like grown men tying girls in chairs." Terra replied.
"This is my home! I make the rules here!" He insisted.
Terra clicked off the safety. "Miss, are you safe here?"
"Not really, no."
Terra's grip tightened. "By my authority, I am leaving with her."
The thug hissed.
A fight broke out. Terra fired shots all over. The thug used his tentacles to break furniture, and use them as weapons. Terra fired more shots. Nothing fatal, only shots to hit the weapons from its grip.
They escaped down a tunnel with the young girl. Cora, as she introduced herself. Too young to be an official officer, the Doctor noted. About as young as Terra looked, in all honesty.
The thug chased them down. Him and his gang. They ran into Soren during their escape. The Doctor accused him of siding with the gang. Soren argued against it.
"By the way, Terra, good shot. As always."
She bobbed her head.
Soren accused Cora of bringing Time Reavers. Tried selling one to Soren, but he had none of it. Cora didn't deny it.
Then, they all realized in horror, that they escaped into the train tunnels.
A massive train came through. The Doctor got separated from the three girls. Cora running off, Terra and Donna chasing after her.
'TERRA!' He screamed.
'SHE CAN'T GET AWAY!'
'YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!'
'I DIDN'T KILL THAT EVIL DAVY JONES. IT'LL COME AFTER HER AGAIN!'
She was right. For gods sake, why did she have to be right all the time?!
'YOU COULD HAVE STAYED!'
'YOU COULD HAVE BEEN FASTER!'
But they were separated all the same. So he went back to Officer Rone for an explanation.
Rone gave it. After some convincing (shouting. Oh, the Doctor was a right prick without Terra to cool him down). Their planet was dying. Time Reavers weren't meant to be a weapon. They were meant to expand their final days with their sun. Make those last moments last as long as they wanted. They refused to leave- all of nothing, the Vacintian people.
It was a terrible plan. The Doctor told Rone as much.
They only made a few. So very, very few. It wouldn't be enough for the whole Vacintian race. Rone tried creating more. During the process, Cora stole their samples and brought them to Calibris.
"She's an arm dealer!" The Doctor fumed.
"She's my daughter!" Rone pleaded.
The Doctor's stomach fell.
-they kept calling her Doctor Junior. Enemies, friends, a lot. Terra always denied it. The Doctor did too.
But it was impossible to ignore it. You can't kill an idea. She's just a kid. She was like him in so many ways, but also so different.
She wasn't his daughter. But oh, he wished, sometimes.
"I don't need a dad, Doctor. I need a friend."
I'll be your friend. Please, just stay.-
==MGCB==
They started a search for the three women. Soren got everyone from the commercial districts, and the surrounding ones to search. They'd either met or heard of Terra, so they were perfectly willing to help search.
Not that it mattered. The three women came to them. A Time Reaver bomb strapped to Donna's back.
"Donna!"
"Terra and Cora are outside. One of Gully's men has a hold of them. Doctor-"
"Donna stay calm!" 'Terra! Terra are you out there?!
'-if I shoot him would I even get time to free Cora-'
'Terra!'
'-let alone free me. Oh, hello Doctor. How are you?'
'Oh I'm just peachy. I'm getting a scone!'
'You are? That's lovely.'
She sounded in such high spirits.
The Doctor couldn't get the bomb off her back. The next best thing was to get her away from people. A quick jump through a window pane later, they were off.
He heard fighting nearby. Tuned to Terra, he often was.
The thug laughed, proud. "You can't hurt me. Not without-"
Bang
"Hello Officer Rone! Cora was telling me about you. Have you seen the Doctor?"
"TERRA! RUN!" The Doctor shouted.
Terra ignored.
Actually, no. She obeyed in the wrong direction.
They ran together, as they so often did.
The Doctor pried it off Donna's back. As soon as he did, as the goo was still sticking to him, Rone took it. And he begged the Doctor to get Cora out of there.
He erupted. For them, an instant moment of death. For him? Blimey it must have been centuries.
Donna comforted Cora, talking about her father's recent death. The Doctor realized it happened earlier, when she spoke only about her mum and less about her dad.
Terra hugged her. And shared her father's death as well.
Cora begged them to let her go. She hadn't meant to cause all of this. Her planet was dying, her father ignored her, she wanted his attention. For him to notice her for just a while.
-The Doctor only noticed her. He saw every blood vessel on her eyes, all the many shades to the amber. The strand of hair that curled around her eyebrows by her left eye. The freckle on her eyelid, in the crease behind her eyelash.-
==MGCB==
The Time Reavers were hidden in Soren's shop.
-Terra's hand began to move off his face.-
Gully followed them.
-The Doctor wanted to scream. No- nonono. He couldn't lose that. He couldn't. That was the only source of touch he had in here.-
Donna and Terra went off for the officers. He heard them outside. Terra shouting orders- stun, don't kill.
-His cheek was cold now. Had been. Ages. How long? He could not remember. She left so long ago.-
It left the Doctor with no choice. He absorbed all 24 of the blasts.
"That's him. In here!" Donna shouted.
The Doctor groaned through the pain. It was still building, still soft. Like jumping into a cold river.
"Doctor!" Donna yelped.
"Where's the Ringleader, Ma'am?" An officer asked.
"Through that trap door!" Terra ordered.
"We'll start a search!" The officer ordered. The lot of them retreated down the tunnels.
The Doctor winced. Falling to his knees, he grit his teeth. The useless Time Reavers fell around him.
"Doctor. You idiot." Terra scolded.
Her expression held that same fond smile. One of his favorites.
"What did he do?" Donna asked.
"He shot himself. All the Time Reavers." Cora answered.
Terra came closer. Though his body was wrecked with sensations, the feeling of slipping away, he held on. Just a minute. He only needed a minute with her.
Donna stood beside Terra. "You total idiot. What on Earth have you done?! Why couldn't you just burn them?"
"Baddie bad-bad news." Terra knelt down beside him. She leaned forward, her eyes looking over his face and body for the obvious pain. "Can't leave a bit behind."
"I couldn't risk it. Not in a place like Calibris. Somebody finds a trace, copies it. Owww!"
"That's enough." Terra lifted the Doctor, moving him to a more comfortable spot on the floor. She was hard pressed for options as everything was covered in broken parts and the octopus' slime. "Hushabye now. Cora, grab me a pillow."
"It was the only-"
"-way to be sure it was all gone, I know." Terra squeezed his shoulder. "I know."
"He could've taken them into the TARDIS! Kept them there!" Donna argued.
"You ever stick a fork in a microwave?" Terra asked. The Doctor heard her try to keep up the cheer, but it wasn't there. Not really. Her joy was brighter than the suns of their old planet. It made you want to laugh with her. She dragged you up with her joy. This joy reminded the Doctor of putting duct tape on a black hole to close it. "We would've torn a hole in the universe if we were lucky."
The Doctor wobbled. His entire world seemed to come into hyperfocus. Things began to slow. They moved so slow, so slow. Like a human mind. Oh that was awful.
"Oh! Oh here it comes!" The Doctor cried out. "Good thing I'm already sitting down!" He started to tilt on his side. Terra quickly helped him the rest of the way down.
Terra nodded. Cora gave her a pillow. Terra propped the Doctor's head over it.
"Don't worry about me, please." The Doctor asked her. Terra's smile went into a line. "I'm a Time Lord...we're not strangers...eternity and I..."
"Neither are we." Terra held his hand, and his face. "So I'll stay."
"Is he uncomfortable?" Donna asked. "Cause, cause if he's got an inch or something- that- that's gonna be really, really bad."
The Doctor couldn't speak. He could feel himself falling further, and further, and further. Her words came so slowly. Is this how slow he would move now, until it wore off? It wasn't so bad. Terra was still there. She smiled at him, like he was an old type 40 TARDIS that she kept having to repair.
==MGCB==
That was eons ago.
The Doctor tried to count at first. The hours, the days, the weeks. Time stretched on. The energy from 24 time modulators was nothing to snuff at.
Terra let go of his hand a millenia ago. A millenia? He thought it was eight centuries. When did it become a millenia? He missed it.
Now her hand was going away. Already, his hearts cried at the loss of them. She was leaving. Finally, she was leaving him.
She was always going to leave him. Quill wasn't wrong about that. Anyone with eyes saw what was coming. Terra Johnson would leave him. All humans left him in the end. Not even the Time Lords kept him around. They did their very best to push the Doctor away. Terra pushed him away, sometimes, yes. She was different because of all the ways she stayed by his side.
Exploring new planets with such joy in her eyes. Laughing and joking with him, including him in her jokes. Arguing about sonics- about the features, or which sonic was better.
The Master's fob watch, tucked deep into the Doctor's pockets.
She was his best friend.
And she was leaving.
==MGCB==
She was speaking to Donna. Words stretched out of the eons in this hell.
The words were so spaced out. Each sound took forever to click in his head. He was able to guess, he thought.
Is he okay?
As well as anyone would be.
So he's not okay?
No. I think his nose itches.
Could you scratch it?
Would it help, or be an eternity of unhelpful-ness?
The Doctor thought that's what they were saying. For them, it was thirty seconds. Maybe. For him...
==MGCB==
That awful trumpet player walked by.
Centuries were spent watching him wind up.
The Doctor suffered before he heard the first endless note.
==MGCB==
Donna asked the trumpet player to play their worst song.
The Doctor dreaded that too.
But he liked Terra's laugh.
==MGCB==
Cora left. Gully had been found in the vents of the planet.
Terra followed her. Donna told her to wait, for both of them to wait.
Terra wasn't one for waiting.
The Doctor hoped he would get out soon. He needed to make sure they didn't do anything stupid.
==MGCB==
I can't move
I can't move
Donna apologized. Normally, he would laugh at how long she spent apologizing. A hundred years saying sorry. Another hundred excusing herself-
"I have to make sure she's alright. Cora- she just lost her dad. Terra just lost you. You know how she gets over you. I can't risk it."
The Doctor completely agreed.
In a couple years, he might actually be able to help.
I can't move
I can't move
==MGCB==
Come on, Doctor, get up.
==MGCB==
Try again. You can do it.
==MGCB==
Terra's screaming in his mind. He felt it, but couldn't reach back out.
==MGCB==
Centuries, millenia, whichever. It hardly mattered.
For Terra and Donna, it was ten minutes.
That meant they had a five minute head start.
==MGCB==
The venting was going off. Normally, it would be harmless. Big burst of oxygen, nothing to harm a human. However, if you were escaping via a rocket you hid inside that oxygen filled vent...other things were sure to go wrong.
The Doctor barely convinced Donna to run.
He found Terra aiming a laser gun at Gully. Gully had his tentacles wrapped around Cora, who had a Time Reaver in her hand. Cora's hand was on the trigger. A tentacle wrapped around her hand, trying to make her let go.
Ah. She kept one.
"Terra!" The Doctor called out.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Have a nice nap?" Terra giggled.
"Where'd you even get that?" The Doctor asked.
Terra hummed. "Did I ever mention how much I miss Jack?"
Gully squeezed tighter on Cora. Cora struggled with the Time Reaver in her hand.
The Doctor grit his teeth. "Let her go, Gully!"
"No! She needs to give up the Time Reaver!" Gully hissed.
Cora yelled. "Stop-squeezing- me!"
Bang
Bzzzzz
Terra's shot hit Gully between his eyes. The lazer went through his face. Sparks of electricity buzzed around his face, almost like a cartoon effect. Gully seized up one final time before beginning to relax in his last moments of breath.
That final twitch proved to be all that was needed. Cora squeezed the trigger. It shot out at Gully. The octopus man fell to his knees in a slow, slow, achingly slow crawl.
Terra tucked her gun away into her bag. She went to Cora, helping the girl out. "Come on."
Cora gawked. At her own hand, and at Gully. "I- I didn't mean to-"
"Don't fret. I shot him first." Terra dragged her away. "Doctor, can we please?"
The Doctor stared at Terra for a second, just a second. Another second. Her curl moved from the side of her face, lost in the rest of her hair. That freckle was still around her eye. "Come on. There's a ladder over there."
They left the body behind. Not enough time to collect it before the thrusters of the rocket went off. They themselves barely made it out of the vents.
The Doctor hugged Terra all the same. Terra returned the hug, not even wiping off the bits of slime stuck to her arms from Cora. The Doctor never wanted a hug more in his life.
==MGCB==
The Vacintians all went back home. With the Time Reavers cleaned up, they had no more use on Calibris. Terra comforted Cora as best she was able.
"I never want to be found." Cora mumbled. "I need to go home, see my mother and sisters, but I don't want to go back. I can't make it right."
Terra held her shoulder. "I'll find you again. Then, I'll help you make it right. "
Soren did get them their part. The Doctor enjoyed a break, watching Terra and Soren fix it up into the TARDIS.
Donna came back from sending Cora off. Back together and ready to ride off, the Doctor set the TARDIS into flight.
Donna started up a strop. Terra stopped her, asking Donna to give her and the Doctor a minute.
"Go change out from that wench look. Even if you rock it." Terra teased.
"Darn right I do." Donna pointed a warning finger at the Doctor. "Don't you start anything. Got it?"
"Got it." The Doctor laughed.
Donna nodded. She started to leave. She reached out her hand for Terra. Terra squeezed her arm, letting Donna go on her way.
She waited until Donna was gone to speak up.
"Was it bad?" Terra asked. "In that- in that?"
"Crowded." The Doctor replied. "I feel older, though. Do I look older?"
Terra hummed, dismissive. "You always look old to me."
The Doctor gasped. "Excuse you! I am young!" Terra snorted. "I am!"
"Young as left out milk." Terra teased.
The Doctor scoffed. "Least I look like an adult."
Terra giggled. She giggled so hard, she fell back into the pilot seat. As she laughed, she held her stomach. "Least you'd tell if I aged."
I did. The Doctor mused.
Her future self, guarding deep in a moving building that only showed itself to people in help, behind multiple locked doors, and metal statues. Safe, but with age obvious behind her eyes. Safe, but ever so far away from him.
Here, now, she sat across from him. She laughed and joked with him. She wasn't pulling or pushing away. She stayed. And that meant more than she would ever know.
"Calibris was fun." Terra said. "As always. Hope it never changes."
The Doctor grinned at her. "So do I. Otherwise, where would space buccaneers like me go?"
Terra burst out laughing again. "You- you're- you're not a space pirate!"
"I could be a space pirate!"
"You're a physics teacher!"
"Well you're not a space buccaneer either!"
"I'm more one than you!"
"You're the ship's jester!"
"You're the parrot!"
"You're both stupid." Donna commented as she returned.
He and Terra looked over at her. She de-wenched herself. A purple top, a long brown coat, jeans, and sensible shoes. Donna grinned at them.
"Where to next?" Donna asked them.
The Doctor twisted a knob. He pulled the computer closer. Terra stood beside him, watching the screen. "You know what I am in the mood for? What I really, really crave right now? A drink."
"A drink?!" Terra cheered.
"Not alcoholic." The Doctor said. Because if he wanted a drink with Terra, he knew the two of them would hardly stop. "There's this- well there's this fizzy drink. It's all over the place but the only good one was in this market on Shan-Shen."
==MGCB==
AN: Okay, it ended up being a Big Finish Audio. Good news is that it won't take long for the next chapter. That's gonna be Turn Left. Less than a handful of chapters left. This is about to be my longest fanfic yet, holy shit.
This was the BFA: Time Reavers. Full credit to BF for this. All I did was make a bad situation worse, as is my signature.
Thanks to CleanerFuzzball for favoriting and following