Chapter 2: The Christmas Invasion
The Doctor was the first to recover from their crash into London. A dazed and upset Amadaliætalunar could only watch as he sprinted for the TARDIS doors from the other side of the smoking console. Rose was quick to follow, leaving Them to slowly get up from the grating alone, working against a violent migraine that was only worsened by the poison spilling from the rotor.
Amadaliætalunar listened to the Doctor's crazed ramblings, adjusted Their frustratingly long robes, and grit Their teeth against the intense pain before heading for the open TARDIS doors. Rose was standing next to a middle-aged lady that vaguely looked like her – clearly her mother – and a handsome black man who couldn't stop his wandering gaze from settling on Rose in between the Doctor's nonsensical blathering.
Perhaps a boyfriend or fiancé, Amadaliætalunar guessed.
"Merry Christmas!" cried the Doctor cheerfully. He coughed loudly through his wide grin, releasing even more regeneration energy, and promptly fainted into the black man's arms.
Amadaliætalunar rushed forward, pushing past a confused Rose Tyler, to help the man lower the Doctor to the rough pavement before briefly feeling the Time Lord's burning forehead. They could feel the heat rising unnaturally fast, and the Doctor began to sweat profusely through his furrowed brow. He was no longer pumping out sex hormones, rather waves of emotional and physical pain, but everything Amadaliætalunar felt from the Doctor was muted like it was struggling to push past an internal force field.
"The Doctor is extremely ill. We must take him inside," Amadaliætalunar pleaded. "Unless we can cool him down, he will completely burn through all of the energy he's using to heal his body."
As if to emphasise the point, the Doctor's dry lips parted yet again to release another wisp of golden light. It danced around Amadaliætalunar's fingers for a moment, attracted to the touch of a fellow Gallifreyan, before it eventually faded.
Rose's young friend – the only human so far to understand the severity of the situation – guided the Doctor's top half into his strong arms.
"I got this end," he said, nodding at Amadaliætalunar. "You take his legs and we'll follow Jackie 'n Rose back to the flat." Together they lifted the unconscious Time Lord, the four of them – Rose especially – grimacing as he let out a soft, pained moan, and made their way to the 48th flat of the Powell Estate.
Soon enough, the Doctor was settled into Rose's bed sans shirt, shoes, socks, and leather jacket. His slacks were exchanged for a pair of cotton striped pyjama pants and he was tucked rather loosely into the thin sheets and floral summer duvet. He was absolutely soaked in sweat as he writhed uncomfortably, occasionally letting out a grunt or a whimper, or even a very quiet plead for help.
Rose sat at his side in a chair, holding his hand tightly and squeezing it with every heart-breaking sound that left his lips, while Amadaliætalunar stood beside her massaging Their temples. On the bedside table was a bowl of ice water and a flannel that Rose used to cool the Doctor.
"His hand is boiling," she said, frowning. "I thought me and him were… Then he goes and does this and now I don't even know 'im anymore. I keep forgetting he's not human." Her voice was soft, laced with unshed tears, the voice of a woman overcome with grief, but before Amadaliætalunar could offer any semblance of comfort to the human girl, she abruptly stood up and left the room, leaving the two Gallifreyans alone for the very first time.
"Doctor," Amadaliætalunar tried.
There was no response.
'Doctor,' They tried again, instead reaching out to him through the telepathic link all Gallifreyans shared. 'Please, Doctor, can you hear me at all? My mind is silent. Usually, I can hear the other Time Lords, but now there is only you, and I'm not sure if I am ready to face what that means for me. For us.'
Amadaliætalunar, having come to the Doctor from the very end of the Great Time War, dragged through the Vortex without a TARDIS to ensure Their safety, and then been overwhelmed by a regenerating Time Lord, hadn't noticed the dreadful quiet until then. The Time Servant's mind had hummed since They were a child, a beautiful song caused by the strong connection They shared with the others from Their beloved planet. It wasn't there anymore. All that was left were the delicate whispers of a single Time Lord in great pain.
He was full of guilt. Regret.
Something he wanted to take back with every beat of his hearts.
Amadaliætalunar wasn't used to feeling emotions from a singular connection. The thrum of a billion hearts beating together was all but two now, and the warmth of a billion beings working together in a peaceful harmony had gone from an angry heat – the effect of the war on Gallifrey – to nothing more than a cold emptiness.
The Doctor exhaled a few golden specks that floated over to Amadaliætalunar, who purposefully breathed them in, and suddenly the world was just that little bit kinder again; a little bit warmer.
They chuckled. 'Even when you're unwell, you're still a doctor. Always making sure everyone else is alright.' The golden energy from the Doctor seemed to agree as it pulsed happily, making Amadaliætalunar's spine tingle. 'Speaking of…'
Amadaliætalunar reached out to check the Doctor's hearts with Their hand, but hesitated.
'His skin is bare. If we touch now while he's so vulnerable…' They thought, unaware that They were still projecting into the Doctor's own mind. They felt a hum of encouragement course through Their body, and so they reached further and laid Their palm flat against the Doctor's bare, shiny chest, feeling for the rapid beat that was faintly present in Their mind.
Suddenly, the drumming got louder, like a platoon of soldiers marching together, or a percussionist violently banging on his instrument to play fortississimo. A spark of energy – not regeneration, this was different – that began within the Doctor's chest pushed into Amadaliætalunar's hand, connecting with Their nerves to hitch a ride through Their body, exploring every passage and every dark corner until it finally reached its destination.
Their third heart.
It was tucked away behind the liver, a place that was almost impossible to see in an X-ray scan, but still there, lying dormant in every Time Servant until the day they bonded to a Time Lord.
Amadaliætalunar cringed as Their third heart finally beat for the first time. It was slow at first; a single beat every few seconds, though it was quick to gain speed, faster and faster until it matched the rhythm of the Doctor's. Left, right, left, then right again. Two beats on each side for two hearts. Amadaliætalunar could feel it as though They had four hearts rather than three, and the strange sensation left Them dazed for a few seconds until They, naturally, got used to it. They were born for this, after all.
Then one side – the right – slowed. The Doctor's right heart was beginning to give out.
Pulling away, Amadaliætalunar started to call for Jackie, but was interrupted by a commotion in the kitchen.
"We've got to save the Doctor!" shouted Rose as she burst into the bedroom with her mother. "We can't just leave him!"
"What's happening?"
"We're gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!" whined a frightened Jackie. The man from before hurried into the room, frantic with wide eyes and half a decimated wooden chair in his arms. "Oh, Mickey!" she cried.
Amadaliætalunar lunged over Rose's abandoned armchair to grab the Doctor's leather jacket, silently hoping that at least one of his enlarged pockets carried something useful. Their fingers closed around several banana bunches, a handkerchief or two, a device that whirred to life and dinged excitedly once touched.
"Come on," They urged as their attacker moved ever closer to the bedroom. The plastic Christmas tree was spinning violently in the hallway, tearing apart the walls as easily as an electric saw on full power, and it was out for their blood.
Suddenly, They found something small, thin, and metallic. The Doctor's aura – for lack of a better word – jumped happily, a tendril of golden light that only Amadaliætalunar could see reaching for the device They held.
"Got it!"
The tree began to hammer against the door, easily shredding the wood and beginning to work on the large barricade between it and its targets.
"Help us, Doctor!" Rose cried.
The second the stick was in the Doctor's hand, he sat up, wide awake, pointing the light blue tip at the tree. Whatever his magic wand was, it worked effectively against the murderous tree as it exploded within moments.
"Remote control," the Doctor confirmed. He glanced around the room, giving everyone a quick once over, though his eyes did linger on Rose and Amadaliætalunar for just a bit longer. Seemingly satisfied, he leapt out of the bed. "But who's controlling it?"
Whether he was unaware that he was half-naked or simply didn't care, Amadaliætalunar didn't know, but They couldn't help staring at the small brown bump between his shoulder blades; the mole that he had been so intrigued by after his regeneration. Amadaliætalunar also noticed, thanks to Their sharp Gallifreyan eyes, that he had faded freckles dotted across his skin. One was partially covered by the elastic of his waistband. It disappeared beneath his pyjama pants when he moved.
Oh, my stars, Amadaliætalunar thought. He will be the end of me.
There was no denying the Time Lords physical beauty. Where his last self, for all the five minutes Amadaliætalunar had known him, had a subtle bad-boy charm to his look, this version of him was overwhelmingly pretty, especially his deliberately messy hair paired with his big, brown eyes.
They followed the Doctor, a dog on a tight leash, as he hurried out of the flat, prattling on about one thing or another at top speed whilst he examined the readings from his little device. The humans were close behind. Mickey and Jackie looked to be just as confused as Amadaliætalunar, and Rose… Well, she had taken to constantly nodding and occasionally asking vague questions that were phrased cleverly – enough to please the Doctor – when, really, she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Amadaliætalunar could see the frustration in her eyes.
"Pilot fish." The Doctor halted on the balcony outside number 48. "Those are pilot fish."
He pointed his wand at them, face suddenly grim and serious, and a brass band of badly dressed Santa Clauses in plastic masks teleported away. Though Amadaliætalunar had never been one for the advanced classes in the Academy of Gallifrey, even They could smell the trail the so-called pilot fish left behind.
There was a ship above the Earth. And it was very close to breaching the atmosphere.
The Doctor groaned.
Amadaliætalunar's third heart was only beating on the left now. The right had completely failed. The Doctor was dying.
"You woke me up too soon," he said to Rose as he slid down the wall of the flat, clutching at his chest. "I'm still regenerating. My heart's given out and – oh! Ow! – I'm having a neuron implosion."
Amadaliætalunar crouched at his side, taking his hot hand and raising it to Their temple. If his brain was collapsing, then They had very little time left to figure out what he needed before Their mental connection faded.
'What do you need, Doctor?' They asked. 'Tell me, quickly! Is there some kind of Earth medicine I can give you?' Their muscles tensed under a frantic spark of energy. The Doctor was frightened. 'Okay, it's okay. I promise not to let them give you any medicine.'
At the same time, Jackie was loudly listing off a variety of medicines and soups and other such nonsense as the Doctor began to keel over on the ground, his head dropping heavily onto Amadaliætalunar's lap. They stroked his hair, feeling his fear roll off him in large waves that made Their hearts beat rapidly and Their fingers twitch, and his last few seconds within Amadaliætalunar's mind were spent giving Them a warning.
'Pilot fish are scavengers. They're little fish that are always… followed by sharks, meaning they aren't the biggest threat to this planet right now... Something big… is coming.'
The Doctor's eyes closed.
"He's fainted," Amadaliætalunar told the humans. "We should get him back into bed before we investigate these pilot fish further."
This time, Mickey and Amadaliætalunar swapped roles, with the human carrying the Doctor's legs. Rose didn't look very pleased that Amadaliætalunar had a hold of his bare torso, but her opinion was of no matter to the Time Servant.
Mickey asked, "Who are you, exactly? Because the last time we saw Rose and the Doctor, he was a bald guy with massive ears. And you sure as hell weren't there."
"To save the Doctor's life, Rose," They glanced at the human girl, "absorbed the Time Vortex from the heart of the TARDIS. In doing so, she accidentally opened a link with me on Gallifrey. I am an anomaly. I'm not supposed to be here. I can sort of sense it, in a way, that the Doctor was supposed to be the only one to survive the Time War.
"It should've been impossible for Rose to pick me up from the middle of the War like she did. There must have been some sort of fracture – a weak spot – in that exact moment that allowed her, and therefore me, to slip through, but I'm not sure." They paused. "This is really the Doctor's level of expertise, not mine."
They set the Doctor back down on the bed and Mickey opted to dress him in a matching pyjama shirt before they covered him with the blankets. Mickey stood back to survey his handiwork, asking, "You're a Time Lord? Time Lady?"
"Time Servant," They corrected.
Rose interrupted in that moment. "Never mind that, now! We've got these pilot fish things to worry about."
"Right!" Mickey led the group over to his surprisingly undamaged laptop and immediately got to work hacking into an online military database. He browsed several web pages for a minute before he came across his target. "Pilot fish! They're not actually a type of alien or anything. It's a type of fish. They swim alongside sharks; great big sharks."
Amadaliætalunar snapped Their fingers loudly. "Of course! Naucrates ductor! The Doctor warned me that something big was coming. The pilot fish are the least of our problems and- oh! I forgot! There's a ship above the Earth!"
"How big?"
They raised Their nose to the air and sniffed very loudly a few times, noticing the Doctor subtly doing the same in their peripheral vision. Their lips quirked a little – the Doctor was still responding to his surroundings, which meant his healing coma was beginning to take effect.
"Big. Very big. It's anywhere between five and ten hours away."
Jackie, who'd been watching the telly the whole time, suddenly called them over. "Rose! There's aliens on my TV!"
And there were. The footage was grainy, enough so that Amadaliætalunar couldn't even begin to distinguish the species, but the audio was loud and clear to Them. The alien roared and grunted and snapped much like an alien would by Earth's standards, and Amadaliætalunar quickly got to work trying to translate what it said, but it was difficult without a strong Time Lord connection to boost Their brain power. With only one Time Lord left in the universe trapped in a deep healing coma, Amadaliætalunar had no one to bounce ideas off.
They were completely alone against an unknown enemy on a planet full of trigger-happy humans.
"I can't understand it. The TARDIS is supposed to translate everything inside my head all the time, wherever I am. Must be the Doctor – like he's part of the circuit and he's broken." Rose, for the first time since the Doctor's regeneration, finally addressed Amadaliætalunar. "What about you?"
Amadaliætalunar sighed. "I'm working on it. Something about surrendering… Sycorax strong… Sycorax mighty… Sycorax awesome? They're called Sycorax, but I don't think I've ever met a race with such a name, not even during the Time War." They turned to Mickey. "You should prepare to relocate to the TARDIS. The Doctor needs to be kept safe at all costs until he wakes up."
The four of them broke off, Jackie excusing herself to make some tea, Rose and Mickey left to go check on the Doctor, and Amadaliætalunar stayed put by the telly, watching the news closely for any updates. Amadaliætalunar took Their dry lip between their teeth, knowing that there was something extremely important that They were missing – something that They knew would help the Doctor speed up the regeneration process.
That was when everything changed.
Humans were marching for the roof – any roof of any building – and only stopped once they were dangerously close to the edge. They ignored every friend, lover, and every parent. And then the sonic wave hit as the ship entered the atmosphere.
It all looked strangely familiar to Amadaliætalunar, but even as they settled in the TARDIS with the Doctor – who was now wrapped up in a fluffy black dressing gown – They couldn't quite figure out the solution to the problem. It was there on the tip of Their tongue, somewhere just out of reach like a bag of chips on the highest shelf.
"I need to try and reconnect with the Doctor," Amadaliætalunar thought aloud, vaguely aware that Rose and Mickey turned their attention to Them. "But how?"
"Reconnect with the Doctor? What're you on about?!" Rose asked shrilly.
They swept back a stray hair from the Doctor's face before moving their fingers to delicately brush against his temple, feeling for an opening into his mind. The surface connection was there, but only because of Their physical bond. Amadaliætalunar couldn't push past the Doctor's internal defence mechanism.
"All Gallifreyans have a telepathic bond, especially us Time Servants. I guess you humans would call us psychics, but there really is no accurate translation. It's difficult to phrase it in a way that you'll understand."
"Try me," she demanded. "I've seen a lot out there. And I know a lot more than you think. You might think humans are useless but we're not, especially not me."
There was a short staring contest. Rose won.
"Alright. Think of it like this; every species has at least a low level telepathic ability that works like a radio channel, and every species is on a different frequency. Time Lords have always had weak telepathic abilities; however, they can connect to some frequencies – like humans – through physical contact." Amadaliætalunar stopped to breathe.
"Time Servants are a mutant strain of Gallifreyan born with extreme psychic abilities, such as perfect empathy and telepathy with whatever species we 'tune into,' so to speak. The more of a species there are, the easier it is for a Time Servant to access that frequency, though it is still extremely difficult and takes time."
It was, unsurprisingly, Mickey who picked up on it first. "So, since there's only one Time Lord left, and he's in a coma, you're locked out without a password!"
"Exactly right, Mickey. My connection with the Doctor is weak. The only reason I can feel him at all is because of the physical bond we formed." They lightly tapped the area where Their third heart was located. "How it works in its entirety is much more complicated, which is why us Time Servants spend decades learning about it in school, but that's the basics."
He beamed widely, giving Amadaliætalunar the feeling that his clever mind wasn't much appreciated by the Doctor. From the few hours they'd known the Time Lord, They could tell that he was certainly the jealous type.
"What do you mean 'physical bond'?" was Rose's question.
Before Amadaliætalunar could answer, Rose suddenly tripped over a canister of hot tea, crashing into the console and activating a short-range distress signal. Even with Their limited knowledge, Amadaliætalunar knew that the signal would easily be picked up by the so-called Sycorax, and if their teleport technology was anything to go by, then they would also be able to easily transport the TARDIS.
The tea began to drip into the wiring beneath the grating. It sparked and sizzled, and smoke rose into the air, but that was the least of their worries. They were on the ship. Amadaliætalunar could smell the effects of the Sycorax teleport.
"Don't go outside!" Amadaliætalunar shouted, but it was too late. Rose and Mickey left the TARDIS and were immediately grabbed by Sycorax soldiers, though Mickey luckily remembered to shut the door behind him.
"I don't know if I should go with them. Doctor, what do I do?!" They begged in Gallifreyan, praying to every deity for an answer.
Suddenly, there was a thump within them. Loud, harsh, and sharp. They hunched over, clutching at a pain in Their side. It thumped again. And again. "My third heart," They realised. "Doctor, your second heart is working again!"
Right when Amadaliætalunar thought it couldn't get any better, a warmth enveloped Their entire body. It began in Their spine, a soft tingle, that stretched out to Their fingers and toes within seconds, and its origin was the Doctor's energy as it sparked back to life. It rushed through Them like a rollercoaster, jumping and loop de looping excitedly.
"I can feel you again! Oh, Gallifrey, this is wonderful!" They revelled in the connection for a few seconds, soaking it up and allowing it to fuel Their own energy. "I hadn't realised how exhausted I was. I feel so much better, Doctor, but the humans still need help!"
'Let me guide you,' was the faintest whisper in her mind.
At that, the Doctor's lips parted, and he released a wave of golden energy for Amadaliætalunar to take in. Like before, it wasn't regeneration energy, instead it was… instructions, for lack of a better word. The Doctor was feeding Them everything They needed, and They absorbed it through Their eyes, which changed to a golden yellow as the energy swirled through Their irises. The Doctor's plan played out in Their mind like a memory that hadn't happened yet, and they watched dazedly, drunk on his energy, until his mouth snapped shut and the source was bled dry.
They shook Their head, dizzy from the brand new experience, but feeling all the better for it. They felt stronger, mentally, emotionally, and physically, like They were testing out a newly regenerated body. The Doctor's energy settled quietly within Amadaliætalunar's third heart, gently pumping out waves of the confidence he possessed – and needed Them to have – to lead Them out the TARDIS doors.
Their body hadn't felt so healthy since before the Time War.
"Stop!" shouted Amadaliætalunar to the laughing Sycoraxi. Their eyes darted over to see several scared humans, including Rose and Mickey, though Rose looked particularly put out like the Sycorax had just insulted her. "I order you to stop!"
"And who are you to make demands for this planet?"
'I am a representative of the Shadow Proclamation,' whispered the Doctor in Their mind. On instinct, They repeated him to the Sycorax and their leader, even though They hadn't consciously said a word. It was like the Doctor was controlling Them – possessing Them – and it felt incredibly good.
"This is a level five planet protected under Galactic Law. You, the Sycorax of Sycor, are in violation of Article 57 and I command you to leave," They finished. A feeling of pride from the Doctor made Them grin. It was short-lived, however, when the Sycorax all laughed again. Then they began to panic when the leader unravelled his enormous whip.
The whipped cracked.
And nothing happened.
"You could have someone's eye out with that!" said a soothing voice with a Southern London accent.
The Doctor marched forward in his pyjamas and slippers – where did he get shoes? Amadaliætalunar thought – and snapped the leader's staff too. The Sycorax did nothing in their astonishment as the Doctor turned his back to them to address the humans.
"Rose, Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North! Anyway, tea was all I needed! Nothing like a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin for healing the synapses, eh?" He walked up to Rose. "Now, be honest, how do I look? Different, I'd wager at the look on your face, but is it good different or bad different? No, wait! Am I ginger?"
"No, you're just sort of… brown," she said softly.
He whined loudly. "I wanted to be ginger! I haven't been ginger yet! And you, Rose Tyler! Fat lot of good you were, giving up on me! Oh! That's rude. Am I rude now? Rude and not ginger."
Amadaliætalunar watched him bounce about the room, still as energetic as he was when he first changed, talking to each of the humans about his new self. They would've thought it was funny if not for the Sycorax fleet. They cleared Their throat. When the Doctor looked, They gestured to the pissed off aliens behind him.
"If I might interrupt," called the Sycorax leader. "Who exactly are you? How dare you?! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"
"I DON'T KNOW! See, I know I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He clicked his tongue and winked at Amadaliætalunar. "Am I a right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? Am I gambler? I could be a fighter. Or a traitor, a coward, a lair, a nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob that doesn't stop and- oh! What's that?! It's a great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?"
Amadaliætalunar frowned again. 'Doctor, there's something about that. It seems familiar. I think it's what they're using to control the humans,' They thought to him. The Doctor's only response was a big smirk and another wink in Their direction.
"Ah, here we are," he said as he ripped open the base of the control matrix. "This looks like blood. Yeah, definitely blood." He tasted some of it, swishing it across his tongue like mouthwash before spitting it out. "It's human blood. A Positive with just a dash of iron. Which means blood control! Ah, I haven't seen blood control for years! So, you're controlling all the A Positives, which leaves us with a great big problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. If I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this!"
The Doctor slammed his hand down on the button.
"You killed them!" shouted a man in a suit.
"We allow them to live," said the Sycorax.
The Doctor snorted loudly. "Allow? You've no choice. I mean, that's all blood control is. It's a cheap bit of voodoo like hypnosis because why, Amadaliætalunar?"
Amadaliætalunar blanched as everyone turned to Them, but thought on it for a second before saying, "Well, hypnosis can't break a human's basic survival instinct. You can open someone to suggestions they wouldn't otherwise consider, but you can't force anyone to do something they are strongly opposed to, and you hypnotise anyone to kill themselves or each other."
"Very good! Now, as my lovely companion here told you earlier – and, really, you should've listened to her because she's probably a hell of a lot nicer than I am – you're violating Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. Leave this planet."
"Or what?"
The Doctor smiled, though the look in his eyes was deadly serious, and he swiped a sword from the sheath of a Sycorax soldier. He said, "I challenge you. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"
"You stand as this world's champion?" the Sycorax leader asked in disbelief.
"You know, I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up!" The Doctor tossed his dressing gown at Amadaliætalunar, leaving him in his striped pyjamas and dark slippers. "Do you accept my challenge? Or are you a cranak pel casacree salvak?"
Amadaliætalunar let out a little gasp and a giggle, covering Their mouth with Their hand at the Doctor's extreme insult. They hadn't really seen him as the type to use such vulgar words, and judging by his reaction, he didn't seem to be too fond of it either now that he'd tested it in this body. His insult made up the leader's mind, however, and they agreed to a deadly battle for the Earth.
The fight began, the taller, much more experienced Sycorax bearing down on the Doctor as their swords clashed together. They blocked each other's swings a few times before the Doctor, who needed to gain the upper hand soon, dodged a hard swing and retreated up a dark tunnel that lead to the outer decks of the ship.
"Let's get some fresh air, hmm? Lovely day out!"
The battle continued, the Sycorax backing the Doctor up against the very edge of the ship until he finally managed to knock him down. Immediately, the leader swung and cleanly cut off the Doctor's hand.
"Doctor!" cried Amadaliætalunar with a gasp, grabbing Their own wrist as a spike of intense pain shot through it. Tears pooled in Their eyes as Their wrist began to throb.
'I'm fine,' he told her. 'Thank you for taking my pain.'
"I know what sort of man I am now. I'm lucky. Because I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got enough residual cellular energy to do this." He grit his teeth, visibly wincing as a new hand grew in the place of the old one.
The Sycorax's eyes widened. "Witchcraft!"
"Time Lord."
Using the alien's surprise to his advantage, the Doctor swiftly kicked upwards under the Sycorax's robes and shoved his feet into, what Amadaliætalunar could only guess was, the enemy's genitalia. He howled in pain, stumbling back and dropping its sword for the Doctor to take, and he immediately used the hilt to get the Sycorax onto the floor.
"I win," the Doctor said, the point of the blade at the Sycorax's neck. "I'll spare your life if you take this champion's command. Leave. And never return."
"Yes."
"Swear on the blood of your species," the Doctor spat, and when the Sycorax did, the dark look on his face softened. "Cheers for that! Thanks!" He stabbed the sword into the ship and swaggered over to the group, talking to Rose even though his gaze was locked onto Amadaliætalunar's.
'So we're bonded,' he teased mentally. They blushed. 'I know, it's only a physical bond for now,' he reassured before pulling out of Amadaliætalunar's mind. The 'for now' was not lost on Them, even though it appeared he hadn't noticed. They watched him take the fluffy dressing gown off Rose, the two of them sharing big smiles and longing looks.
Then the Sycorax leader attacked again. And the Doctor stopped him. Again.
"No second chances," he said darkly. "I'm that sort of a man."
Hours later, the Doctor and Amadaliætalunar were in the TARDIS' enormous multi-level wardrobe, each of them inspecting various outfits the Doctor had picked up over the years. He couldn't stay in those Earth pyjamas, and Amadaliætalunar wasn't very keen on spending the rest of Their days in dirty Gallifreyan robes.
"How about this?" the Doctor asked, referring to an old Earth costume. "Nah, too Casanova," he declared.
Amadaliætalunar, having already picked out a few outfits to try on, watched in amusement as the Doctor grabbed hideous outfit after hideous outfit – not that the Casanova was awful; it just didn't suit his personality very well.
After a few minutes of silence, and a few minutes of the Doctor stripping himself of various shirts, Amadaliætalunar asked, "Doctor? Might I ask – you called me a 'she' before…"
"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I forgot that Time Servants are genderless! I'm so sorry. It's been a long time since Gallifrey for me." He dropped the polka dot blouse he was holding and rushed over, though he stopped just short of hugging Them, like he wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Uh, no, I was going to say that I kind of like it. Earth pronouns, I mean. I wanted to ask if you would consider me a 'she' from now on?" He smiled. And all three of Amadaliætalunar's hearts melted at the beautiful sight. He really was too gorgeous for words.
"Absolutely! Brilliant! Yeah!"
She smiled back at him.
"How long has it been? Since Gallifrey?"
His smiled vanished. And he sighed. "A few hundred years. It's been so long that I'm even starting to miss those stupid headpieces we had to wear." They quietly reminisced together for a minute. "Amadaliætalunar, there's something I need to tell you."
"Later," she said, pressing her hand over his mouth. She winced when she noticed it was still dirty from the war, and she probably smelled horribly too. "I can feel it, Doctor, that you're not ready to tell me what it is. And I will gladly wait centuries for you. After all, you're all I have left of our beloved home. That is, if you want me to stay here."
"Of course I do," he whispered, and Amadaliætalunar was reminded of the beautifully soft voice that she'd heard in her mind. She'd thought him incapable of speaking so calmly out loud, but here he was, and here she was, absolutely and most definitely falling in love with a Time Lord she'd only met less than twenty-four hours ago.
She tried to chalk it up to the sudden loneliness from the loss of the Time Lords, the sinking void that he'd filled with warmth and compassion after their bond. But it was more than that.
Only the gods knew how much more.
So, what do you think? Last chapter was definitely more of a prologue, so this one was bound to be longer. I'm currently planning one episode per chapter, but I might extend it out to two if the episode is a personal favourite of mine. We'll have to wait and see!
There's a misconception I want to clear up. The first chapter title. It had "(The Party of the Ways)" next to it and I really want to tell you why. So, I'd accidentally misspelled "parting" as "party" and hadn't realised. When I did, all I could think of was a bunch of previous Doctors carrying a TARDIS on their shoulders, with 9 on the inside, doing the coffin dance. And I still piss myself laughing every time I think of it. So I kept the little reference in my notes, but I forgot to delete it for the publication!
See you next time!