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Chapter Seventeen: The Other Mozart
Part Three
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I waited for the Doctor for hours. He said to not wander off, and at first I was more or less okay with that. He had good instincts, and I trusted him to handle whatever it was. I was a bit miffed that he'd gone without me, but whatever, I guess. But as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, I began to get worried. Guess I would have to go after him after all.
I tried to get Leopold to tell me whatever he had told the Doctor. Again. And again. I didn't have any luck, obviously, so I resorted to trying to figure it out for myself.
So, I began wandering around the house with Nannerl in tow.
"Was this your brother's room?" I asked the nervous woman, who wasn't at all happy about going against her father to help me, even if she wasn't actually being helpful.
"Yes, miss." She hovered behind me, wringing her hands as I went straight in without the slightest hesitation.
I paced the room, trying to notice everything. I knew I wasn't amazing at it, but I was trying. The kid's room was about as you'd expect a twelve year old music genius' room to be; sort of clean, music sheets and blots of ink all over the desk, a handful of instruments that I didn't really care to identify, and several pairs of socks sticking out from under the bed.
"Buffy, please," Nannerl whined, still hovering in the doorway. "What do you hope to find? Can you not just wait for the Doctor to return?"
"All this waiting is driving me insane," I retorted, picking up a stack of sheet music to see if there was anything underneath. There wasn't. "He figured it out really fast, so maybe if I just knew some of what he did… I could figure out where he went." I whirled around to face her, surprising both her and myself, because she had moved to stand directly behind me without my noticing. "You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?"
"No," she said, just a bit too quickly.
I narrowed my eyes and took a half step closer. "Nannerl?"
She looked away guiltily. God, it was like dealing with my brothers when they didn't want to fess up to stealing my leftovers.
"Nannerl, please," I pressed, switching tactics; demanding to pleading. "What happened when your brother disappeared?"
She shook her head, though I could tell her resolve was weakening. "My father wouldn't tell you… No, neither should I."
"Please! The Doctor could be in danger." He had been gone for quite a while.
"I-"
"I'm the Doctor's companion," I insisted, both to myself and to her. "It's my job to help him when I can. If something's happened to him, it's my fault."
My heart froze. What if something did happen to the Doctor? Not necessarily now, in this place and time. But anywhere and when. I thought about how long the Doctor's timeline was; how many times he'd barely escaped death; how many lives he'd saved. So… if he died… The only genuine thing different in this universe was me. The cracks in the universe were infested, but the current theory was that I was here to fix them. So if the Doctor died, it would be because of me. This universe would die, over and over again, and it would be my fault.
"Oh, God. It would be my fault."
I tried to push the thought away. My stomach was churning with anxiety and I was getting nauseous. Puking would do nothing to help at the moment.
Nannerl's face shifted, anxious and pitying. I perked up when she started to speak. "My brother had just had an argument with my father. About what, I'm not sure. He locked himself in his room. My father was attempting to coax him into unlocking it, when my brother began crying out for help. By the time my father managed to break down the door, my brother was gone."
I frowned, thinking. "So, not out the door… How else could they take him?" I rushed to the far side of the room, where a square window sat dead center in the wall. "Window, of course. Only other point of exit, right?"
"Yes, miss."
I unlatched the window and leaned halfway out. Cool evening air wafted in, clearing the smell of paper, dust, and ink from my senses. It really was lovely. I definitely wouldn't mind exploring more. After I found the Doctor, of course. I studied the window sill closely for any sign of struggle.
"Do you know anything else? Anything, well, weird."
"Weird?"
"Yeah. Weird. Strange. Anything not normal would be helpful."
Nannerl shuffled around behind me. "Well, I suppose there was a light…"
"Light?" A dark streak caught my attention. I ran a finger along it, and something dark and powdery came away.
"Yes. It was red and came from under the doorway. I was in the hall, so I saw it as my father did."
"Ash. No… soot," I determined. "Look, and some of the paint has been peeled off. Not peeled, burned. Okay. Come on. What else. Red light. What else around here is red. Have you heard anything about red light recently? Anything weird?"
"No, I don't think so." The young woman was beginning to look at me like I had sprouted a second head.
"Seriously!" I sighed. "The Doctor worked this out and was going after it in less than ten minutes. What am I missing? What about sounds? Did you guys hear anything weird while the kidnapping was happening?"
"You mean other than my brothers screams?"
"Duh," I snipped impatiently.
"No… well…"
"Well what?"
"There was a sort of ...hissing."
"Hissing? What kind of hissing?"
"I don't know… just… hissing."
"Like, cat hissing?" I prompted. "Snake hissing? Bug hissing? People hissing?"
"No!" She thought I was ridiculous, that much was certain. "Like… hissing and crackling. Like… a fire!"
"Fire!" I mused. "That makes sense with the soot and the red light. With no other options, let's take it dead literally. Where near here is a place with a lot of fire?"
"You are joking. Are you saying fire stole my brother?"
"No. Maybe." I hesitated. "I don't know. Could be fire. Could be something that lives in fire. No, I'm not joking. Just answer the question."
"Oh, I don't know! Lots of people use fire!"
"Yeah. But somewhere that uses fire more than anywhere else."
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The air around the steel mill was hot and sticky, a far cry from the pleasant breeze I had enjoyed earlier. I was standing outside the fence that surrounded the building, gazing in a hoping that my deduction had been correct. Otherwise, I had crossed town for nothing and it was back to square one. The steel mill was the best place Nannerl and I could come up with. I had asked her to come with me, but she flatly refused.
I ran my fingers along the rough wood separating me from the place I needed to search. There was a guard at the gate. My first thought was to lie my way inside, but then I realized that that was most likely what the Doctor had done. So if he was in trouble, then it would probably be better if I stayed off the radar whoever it was. I hadn't brought my psychic paper, anyhow. Or my sonic pen.
That was incredibly stupid of me. I really should start carrying them.
My one true asset hung heavily around my neck. The metal medallion was still cool against my chest despite having been in direct contact with my skin for the majority of a day, hidden by the fabric of my dress.
I hated the idea of using it. I hated even carrying it.
But there really wasn't a whole lot of choice. Despite my unpleasant experiences, it was still probably the safest way to explore somewhere that I wasn't supposed to be.
I was dragged forward into the world of ghosts and would-be's. I barely felt the mist of the fence as I passed through it without the slightest hinderance. The building was even more foreboding in this plane, as were the inner walls and objects within it. It was sort of like looking at a shadowy x-ray of the entire structure, except with different layers of it coming in and out of focus as my attention shifted between them.
I grit my teeth, took a moment to gather my resolve, and made my way through the building. The place hadn't been there for an incredibly long amount of time, a year or so, perhaps, so I didn't have to bother with doors or walls. Trying to go downstairs, into a section of the building that sat below ground, was much more difficult. While the building was more or less new, the Earth was not. It took me five minutes of trying to will the ground to be transparent before the manipulator got the gist of what I was trying to do. The ground beneath my feet gave away, and I fell straight through the now-accessible stairwell. I tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the now-highlighted stairs, nursing a scraped shin and a bruised pride. Thankfully, the Blank people wandering around carrying tools and things had been unable to see my blunder.
I studied one of the Blanks curiously as it twisted a knob, tightening a mold. There was something... off… about them. They were moving oddly, mechanically. I shook the feeling off. Find the Doctor first, other stuff later.
I found myself in a very large space, packed full of machinery. The room was ugly and busy, and even through the chill of the Otherside, I could almost feel the heat of the molten metal dripping and sloshing around in large vats, waiting to be dipped and shaped into whatever was demanded of it.
On instinct, I found myself weaving through the room towards the large furnaces on the far side of the room. Furnace equals fire; fire equal kidnapping fire-creatures. Or at least I hoped.
For once in my life, my instincts were dead-on. The Blank-form of a man was tied, hands above his head, to a rail that was dangerously close to where a vat was being slowly wheeled out of the furnaces. A few inches further to the left, and he could be grievously burned.
The Blank was struggling against his bonds, wriggling his way down as far as he could in an attempt to get a small object that was just out of reach with his feet.
I was sure that I recognized the Blank's broad shoulders, so, after noting that there was no one else around to notice, I padded over, exited the Otherside, and scooped up the item.
"Is this what you're after?" I asked, staring smugly into the Doctor's wide eyes.
The Doctor, startled by my sudden appearance, gaped at me for a moment before composing himself.
"What the hell took you so long?" He accused, covering his previous shock with the usual rudeness.
"You didn't exactly leave a forwarding address," I retorted, mopping at my brow. Damn, it was hot. Sweat was beading along my chest and dripping down my neck while my elaborate hairstyle was beginning to curl and fall out of place.
"Four hours!" The Doctor snipped back, tugging at his bonds. I placed the small object, which turned out to be a remote control-looking contraption, at his feet and began attacking the rope wrapped tightly around his wrists. "Did it really take four hours to work it out?"
The rope loosened and fell away. I put my hands on my hips. "Hey, you're the one that ditched me without telling me where you were going."
The Doctor leapt to his feet, plucking up the remote control-thing as he went. "You seemed to be having a good time. Didn't want to interrupt your music session. Figured I could sort this out and be back before long."
"What is 'this', anyway?" I tugged at the pins and ties that were keeping my hair in place before using one of the ribbons to pull it all into a ponytail.
The Doctor sprang into action, rushing around to the other side of the furnace to a door that I hadn't noticed.
"Prylishtin slave vessel," he explained grimly as we went. "This whole mill is a set up. The workers look human, but are just hard-life holograms."
"I thought there was something strange about them."
The sonic made quick work of the lock, allowing the door to open with a painful creak. The room beyond was much different to the other; instead of smoky metal and primitive machinery, the place was sleek. The walls appeared to be made of molten glass, lined with panels made of lava rock; the floor of brimstone. Waves of heat rolled out of the doorway, thick and tainted to the point that it was difficult to breathe.
The Doctor stepped through anyway, and I followed.
"They trade in talent, the Prylishtins do," the Doctor continued, ignoring the intense heat. "They scour the universe for performers, people they can sell to entertainment agencies, stuff like that. Earth is an easy stop, especially at this point in history."
"What are we going to do about it?" I was starting to feel dizzy, but I carried on anyway. "Is Mozart still okay?"
"I expect so. Can't exactly sell him for his music if he's damaged." The Doctor pointed the remote device at a closed door, which then slid away obediently. "They've got him in a cold storage container. This here gives me control of most of their ship's settings," The Doctor held up the remote for me to see. "Their technology isn't incredibly sophisticated. Bless. But I didn't account for the hard-life holograms. Got stuck, y'see."
We continued on down a long hallway. Thankfully, the air was getting cooler. The walls were darker and more rocky, like the molten material that made up the walls was beginning to cool. I breathed a sigh of relief as the air became more tolerable.
"Through here," the Doctor grunted. He guided me into a room constructed purely of stone, bathed in red light. The room was divided into two parts, separated by a glass wall. On the other side of the wall was a young boy, curled on a ball in the floor.
"Wolfgang?" I tried to cross the room to the glass prison, but the Doctor snagged my arm, jerking me back.
I turned to protest, but his actions suddenly made sense. In the opposite corner of the room, on the same side of the glass as us, was what I assumed to be a Prylishtin. It was a bizarre creature, dark, as if made of volcanic ash. It's eyes burned bright red, like two embers burning at the center of a heap of coals. It stood in a cloud of red light and smoke, it's mouth opening as a glowing gash, spitting out a series of hisses.
The sound must've made sense to the Doctor. The Time Lord frowned.
"Oh, don't give me that," he retorted, staring the creature down. "I told you your options when we last met; shunt off, or I'll stop you."
The creature hissed again.
"Oi! Language!" The Doctor held up the remote threateningly.
The alien snarled and lunged.
I flinched and squeaked, but the Doctor didn't even blink. He locked eyes with the Prylishtin, and pressed a button.
The glass separating us from Wolfgang shattered, and the three of us were hit by a wave of freezing air. My breath left me in a gasp, frost instantly forming on my skin.
The Prylishtin screamed, and then vanished in a puff of smoke, extinguished by the sudden freeze.
"They need intense cold to counter the intense heat," the Doctor explained, breath condensing in the air. "Most of their prisoners can't stand the temperatures, so they freeze them to keep them from being damaged by the journey."
A deep rumble shook the ground beneath our feet. I looked down and saw cracks beginning to form in the rocky floor. Chips of stone began raining down from the walls and ceiling.
The Doctor looked up in alarm as stone dust showered his head. "Unfortunately, the ship can't stand the cold outside the containment unit. It's losing integrity."
"Then shouldn't we go?" I urged, sidestepping as a large chunk of ceiling that came crashing down less than a foot to my right.
The Doctor sprung forward, scooped the unconscious Wolfgang up in his arms like he weighed nothing, and took off at a run. I was careful to stay on his heels as we dashed through the disintegrating ship, dodging chunks of stone and leaping over cracks. The once molten walls were cooling, red hot fluid hardening into crumbling stone, giving the illusion that the dark rock was leaching over the surface of the lava like a rash.
We didn't stop running until we were outside of the building altogether. Once the Doctor seemed to think we were safe, he paused and looked back at the building. We watched in fascination as the fake steel mill cracked and twisted, sinking down into the earth as the ship beneath it crumbled into nothing.
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Cool night air caressed my cheeks, sweet, with just a hint of chimney smoke. I leaned against the railing, watching horses pulling carriages on the street below, the sounds of their hooves on stone mixed with the music that drifted out of the apartment behind me.
Wolfgang had woken by the time the Doctor and I had brought him back home. The boy couldn't remember a thing, and was bouncing around like a kid his age should within the hour. His extremely grateful father and tearful sister then insisted that we stay for dinner, which we readily accepted. A handful of other friends of the family were invited over for the meal, and after everyone had their fill, we all sat listening to the Mozart family work their magic.
There were enough people milling around inside the Mozart residence that I didn't feel guilty about slipping away for some air. The balcony was lovely, private enough for a think without completely excluding me from the music.
Despite the peaceful evening, my thoughts were chaotic. Real monsters of this universe mingled with ones of my own creation, weaving terrible scenarios though my mind until I couldn't have a single coherent thought without tripping over one of them.
Through the minefield that was my own head, I was aware of the Doctor sidling up beside me. The ancient Time Lord rested his elbows on the rail, his eyes turned up to survey the stars.
"Nice night," he commented, still looking up. I hummed in agreement.
We stood in silence for a while, each of us watching as the city continued with its nightlife and the stars above crept slowly across the sky.
"Tomorrow is her last performance," I mused sadly, listening as Nannerl's wondrous music drifted from inside.
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed. "She never stops composing, though."
"She ends up forgotten," I added bitterly. "Most of her music is lost. I didn't even know she existed before today."
"She's happy now, though. And we'll remember her, won't we? So long as we live, so will she."
I hummed in acknowledgement and we lapsed back into silence.
"I really don't have a choice, do I?" I murmured eventually, watching as a man and lady hailed a horse-drawn cab and clambered into it.
The Doctor drew a shaky breath, understanding what I was referring to. "Whatever brought you into this universe didn't do it by accident. You were chosen, probably because of your foreknowledge, and then dropped on my doorstep cos I'm the only one that knows enough about all this to help you through it. And get you from place to place."
I nodded, taking that as an answer. We shared another moment of silence before the Doctor spoke again.
"I can't make you fight," he explained, voice heavy and soft. "I'm tired of watching the young forced into wars they aren't ready for. You'll have to make that decision on your own. I can't make it for you. I won't make it for you." He paused. "I didn't mean what I said before. You can stay with me, whatever you choose. You aren't here to help me, I'm here to help you. And I won't think any less of you if you choose not to fight."
I didn't want to. I didn't. But it wasn't about want, was it? "Those people on the ships… it was my fault, wasn't it? It's my fault that they're dead."
The Doctor shifted from foot to foot, but didn't respond. It was all the confirmation I needed, solidifying the knot in my stomach. I had already known. How could I not?
"And the other one will do the same to the city," I continued. "More will come, until there's no one left."
The Doctor nodded slowly.
"That's all there is to it, I guess."
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I stood before the jagged crack in the Otherside, my hair blowing slightly in the non-winds. The same creature as before was chewing at the edge of the universe, tearing the gash wider as it went. I watched it, formulating a plan as it fed.
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I had dawdled in my room for as long as I dared; changing into a pair of jeans, picking up clothes I'd left on the floor, making the bed.
The chunky grey blanket flopped back down onto the couch with a puff of air. I stood there for a moment, toying with the hem, sinking my fingers into the weave, taking comfort in the texture. A soft humming sound came from somewhere over my shoulder, causing me to jump in surprise.
I turned to see a small brown leather bag on the coffee table that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago. It was about the size of a satchel and had way too many straps. Realizing that this was probably the TARDIS' doing, I picked it up to examine it more closely. At a guess, it was meant to be worn around a leg rather than around the shoulders.
Yep. The long strap at the top wrapped perfectly around my hips, and the two shorter ones secured the rest of the bag to my thigh.
And guess what?
Bigger on the inside.
So in went my sonic screwdriver, the medical scanner, the psychic paper, a bottle of water, a few granola bars, and a new phone that had magically materialized on the table just as the bag had.
Feeling much more confident than before, I turned to make my way back to the console room, pausing when a glimmer of silver caught my eye.
After a moment's consideration, I snatched up the knife I picked up from Ching Shih.
There was a sheath for it in the bag; covering the blade perfectly while leaving the handle exposed in a perfect position to draw at a moment's notice.
The Doctor probably wouldn't like it. But I felt that I was well within my rights.
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The Doctor had suggested killing the Chronomite in order to get it over as quickly as possible. Trying to trick it out of our universe, although more humane, left open a greater period of time for me to be injured by it. At first, I had planned to do as he suggested, but standing there, watching it feed, I wasn't sure I could just walk up to it and stab it. Maybe if it was attacking me, I could. But now, it just wasn't interested.
So that left trying to coax it back through the crack. I twirled a strand of hair around my finger, trying to work out the best way to do it.
Bait, maybe. If I had something that it wanted, I could probably toss it though and do a few big stitches, or at least just enough that I couldn't get back through. But what did it want?
Edge of the universe energy?
I edged over to the crack, as far away from the Chronomite as I could be while still staying close enough for my purposes.
The creature growled, making my heart stop and my blood freeze. But then it kept eating.
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and forced myself back into motion. Moving quickly, I used the manipulator to gather a large wad of interdimensional thread. The substance tingled in my palm, like I was holding a ball of electricity, minus the pain.
Drawing my knife, I took a deep breath, and reached out with the blade to tap the Chronomite on the back of its head.
I sprang back as it whirled around, massive teeth bared and snarling. I had to force myself not to run or pass out on the spot.
Instead, I held out the wad of glowing thread. "Here, is this what you want?"
The creature continued growling, but stalked towards me slowly. I held the ball out to the side. It followed. Good, it wanted it, and not me.
The creature increased its pace, taking three quick steps before lunging at my arm. With a surprising amount of speed, I threw the wad through the crack and lept sideways. The Chronomite scrambled through after the thread, tearing the gash just a bit wider as it went.
I sprung into action. Within five seconds, I had three new stitches on each side of the crack, and the medallion was slowly cranking the thread tighter. When there was about an inch left, the creature's foot reached back through, scrabbling at the edges of the rift, trying to regain a hold on the universe. Panicking, I lashed out at it with my knife.
A few drops of blood fell. The foot recoiled. The gap shut forever.
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I couldn't sleep that night, so I found myself wandering back into the console room. The Doctor was on a ladder, doing something with a wad of wires.
"Where are we?" I asked, pacing around to where the ladder wobbled somewhat precariously. I steadied it while the Doctor clamboured back down.
"Nowhere in particular at the moment. Just drifting." The Time Lord hopped off the last rung and made his way back over to the console, carrying some sort of light bulb, which he plugged into a slot on the controls.
"Yeah, but where?"
"Space. Low in Earth's orbit."
I bounced on my toes. "Could I take a look?"
He glanced up at me with a bemused expression. "What for?"
"2018, remember? I've never seen a planet from space before."
The Doctor brightened up considerably at that. A small smile danced around his lips. "Go on then." He jerked his head towards the door.
I didn't hesitate to hurry across the room and, with only a moment's hesitation, opened the door.
A small gasp of shock and delight escaped me, because holy crap.
I'd seen space in pictures and movies, infinite darkness spliced drastically with the blinding blue horizon of the planet to the left. But now it was just so… so…
Whatever word I was trying to pull from the recesses of my mind was immediately forgotten when I felt a firm shove from behind, causing me to stagger out of the safety of the blue box and into the void beyond.
A startled squeak tore from my throat at the thought of spiraling out into the cold nothingness of the vacuum, and for a split second I genuinely thought that was how I was going to die. But before I could drift out of the air shield, a strong hand snagged my ankle.
I looked back to see the Doctor, standing in the TARDIS doorway, staring up at me with a shit-eating grin.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I called down accusingly.
"Just trying to help," he responded innocently. "Buffy Reid's first time in space! Better be good!"
I couldn't help but laugh. All the adrenaline and sheer beauty of the planet spinning below floored me. I could pick out storms and mountain ranges and bodies of water that I had only ever seen up close or in pictures. A glorious blue marble in a vast expanse of nothingness. Small and unimportant, but out of the billion trillion other planets I could visit in the universe, there would never be one quite like this. Somewhere below, far too small to see, where millions of people living in houses, driving cars, dancing and shopping and falling in love and living. Once upon a time, it had all seemed so big. So boring. So empty. But now, for the first time, I was entirely humbled by the unbridled vitality the planet emanated.
For the first time in nearly two years, I felt that I was where I was supposed to be.
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Responses to Reviews:
That's Balderdash ; RandomFandoming ; KittyBear98 : Thank You guys sooo much! You have no idea how great it is to hear from you guys!
lautaro94 : Wow, I did not know about that! It makes me want to bring back Clive for a chapter sometime in the future. I always hated that he died in the show. Thanks for reading and reviewing!