There were too many people gathered to see a man die. Danni really didn't like it. She didn't like how people revelled in someone's misfortune. Why would you ever want to see someone die? Sam Swift had been a nuisance, but he was only a petty thief. Stealing a few pieces of gold really didn't warrant a death sentence, did it?
The Doctor was more polite as they ran towards the gallows, apologising to the people he nudged out of the way. He'd always joked about how she was the polite one. It was weird when it was the other way around. Maybe she needed to make more of an effort in the future. Or maybe people could have just moved out of the way so she didn't need to shove them to the side. Either was good.
Sam already seemed to have been charming the crowd, the laughter from them reaching their ears before they reached them. He should have already been hanging, so that must have meant that he had to have been talking his way into living. Danni couldn't help but think that felt incredibly human.
They all began cheering for his hanging, which also felt very human and rather sickening.
"All right, all right," Sam declared, holding his hand out to quieten the crowd. "As God is my Highwayman. He steals the most precious gift of all. Life. Magical, filled with adventures. And at least I can say I lived mine to the full." He looked over the crowd and caught sight of both Danni and the Doctor. He didn't recognise the man, but Danni he recognised.
"Is that… Danni! Danni!" he called over, waving his hand. Danni blinked, surprised that she was suddenly being address. "I-I need some help!"
"I-I can see that," she called back, shifting slightly as the crowd turned to look at her. She was never comfortable with so much attention on her. "What-What can I do for you?"
Sam didn't really have an answer for that. He needed one, though, and quick. He looked at the older gentleman by her side and his eyes lit up. "That seems a bit cruel, doesn't it?" he called over. "Bringing a date to my 'anging. Am I that easy to get over?"
Danni frowned, brows furrowed, completely bewildered to the almost desperate look he was sending her way. The crowd laughed, as if in on a joke she couldn't quite understand.
She looked to her husband, who caught on quicker than she did. "I would say you're probably much easier to get under!" the Doctor called out. She continued to look confused, but the crowd jeered along with the joke and the Doctor figured out how he had been staying alive; by keeping the people entertained.
"What's- What's your name, old man?" Sam asked.
"The Doctor!"
A spark of inspiration hit the doomed man. "Doctor? Doctor! I'm a robber."
The Doctor pointed at him. "Have you taken anything for it?"
The crowed laughed again and Danni shook her head. "Really?" she asked. "You're joining in on bantering?"
"In the last twenty-four hours you've left me behind to rob a house, saved me from being tied up by two bumbling fools and we've met a lion man. Today is full of firsts," he reasoned. "Come on."
He took her hand, pulling her forward and all she could do was keep up. Everything felt incredibly surreal to her. The Doctor always saved people, her Theta was always kinder than he would admit. But… jokes?
"Doctor, doctor!" Sam called over as they pushed through the crowd.
"Quick man, I'm running out of patients!"
"Have you ever seen such a man so old?" Sam continued and the Doctor paused, outraged.
"I'm not that old!" he protested.
"He's so old, he farts dust!"
Well, that wouldn't do at all. He gave Sam a quick once over before turning, pointing up at him. "And his nose is so big that…" he started, trying to think of an ending to keep the audience happy.
"They'll have to widen the noose!" Sam finished for him.
"Or… or bury him in a pyramid!" the Doctor continued. Danni couldn't help but smile at that, and the crowd loved him.
"You know what they say, big nose…" Sam started with a knowing look. The crowd jeered at the implication and Danni decided that, if the Doctor was getting into the moment, then she could too.
"Big handkerchief!" she finished for him. That also tickled the crowd, but not the Hangman, who seemed to have had enough of Sam's jokes for one lifetime. He grabbed Sam, pulling him towards the noose.
"No!" Sam protested, looking to the two time travellers for help. "Please, don't leave me hanging."
The Doctor nodded, falling out of his newfound love of comedy, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his psychic paper and held it out to the Hangman. "Wait! I have a pardon here for Sam Swift from Cromwell himself."
The Hangman took the leather wallet, looking it over like he didn't quite believe it. However, there was also nothing to suggest that it was fake and so, reluctantly, he handed it back. "Sam Swift if pardoned!"
The crowd protested, obviously disappointed that Sam was going to live. The man himself dropped to his knees, sighing with a deep-seated relief. He wasn't sure how the Doctor and Danni had managed to pull it off, but he was safe and alive.
"We didn't come all this way not to see someone hang!" one man in the crowd cried. "What about these two?"
The Doctor grabbed Danni, pulling her closer so that he could protect her. Danni glared at the man as the crowd seemed rather happy to allow two people they didn't know hang for a bit of entertainment. Her hand twitched for her gun, but she didn't go for it. Not yet.
Me stepped forward from where she had been silently watching. She raised a finger to her lips, shushing them gently. The command she had over the crows was quite impressive as they all simmered down. "You want to see someone die?" she asked. "How's this?"
She pulled out the Eye of Hades, the amulet shining unnaturally. "No!" Danni exclaimed, pulling herself up onto the platform. It was too late, though, as Me slammed it on Sam's chest. The man gasped for breath, shuddering as it attached to him. Blackness began to spread from the middle of his chest, underneath the amulet, and he slumped back against the hanging post
Danni grabbed her, flinging her around and throwing the immortal woman to the floor. "You stupid, evil little girl," she snarled. "Look what you've done!"
A large purple beam shot from Sam's chest, straight at the sky and almost blinding to look at. The man himself was slumped against one of the poles for the gallows, eyes rolled back into his skull.
"Purple, the colour of death. His life force is opening a portal," the Doctor said as he crouched down by Sam. He needed to find a way of removing the crystal without killing the man it was attached to, but he feared he was already too late for that.
Me climbed off the floor, brushing herself down as she looked at the sky triumphantly. "To my new life."
"Or to Hell," the Doctor countered as the clouds in the sky began swirling around where the purple beam of light had hit. Leandro pushed his way to the front of the crowd, breathing fire at them with a roar to make them back away in fear. He stepped up onto the platform and stood next to Me as the rift began to open above them. Me looked incredibly pleased, but Leandro looked like he was waiting for something more.
The rift itself revealed a planet floating in the universe, a contrasting sight to the blue sky around them. The villagers pointed to the sky in fear and Me looked at the two Time Lords.
"Goodbye, Danni, Doctor," she said smugly.
"You are going nowhere," Leandro snarled without moving his gaze from his own planet.
Me looked up at him in confusion. Danni rolled her eyes. "Did you really not think this would happen?" she asked. "Would you help anyone out of the kindness of your heart?"
In the rift, small bright lights began appearing from the planet, surroundings it like bright stars. "What's that? What's happening? What are those things?" Me demanded.
"Space ships, or they will be," the Doctor explained as more appeared. "They're coming through the rift, actualising in this plane of reality."
Me turned her attention to Leandro, eyes blazing with betrayal and anger. "You said you were the last of the Leonians!" she accused. "We were meant to escape."
"You shall," he snarled back. "In death."
Large fireballs began to rain down from the rift, hitting the ground and exploding in the crowd that was gathered. The people began to scream as they were attacked not only from above, but from the Lion Man who was responsible for the attack. None of them understood what was going on, so they fled, dodging fire and debris as they tried to get to safety.
Me looked over the crowd in horror. People were going to die because of her naïve mistake. She'd just wanted to be free. She hadn't wanted this. "No!" she cried as more fireballs hit the ground. "Doctor, what have I done?"
"What? Do you actually care?" Danni countered angrily. "I thought their fleeting lives made them pointless? What's the difference between all these people and Sam Swift?" She pulled out her gun, looking around. She didn't believe the same, not for one moment, so instead she looked over the crowd. She needed to save as many of them as she could in one go. The first threat she could take care of was Leandro, so she jumped off the podium, landing in the dirt heavily before quickly standing up as if she had been graceful all along.
"Danni!" the Doctor cried, running to the edge. "What are you doing?"
She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Saving the planet," she replied. "Isn't that what we do?"
She rushed over to Leandro, firing at his feet and scaring a lot of people around her as the shot blew a hole in the ground. It knocked the large man to the ground for a moment, distracting him from the group of people he was terrorising. It looked to be a small family so Danni didn't waste any time. Looking around there weren't many places to hide, but there was a sturdy looking stone building to the right that looked like it might have held up under the attack.
She motioned towards it. "Get in there," she instructed. "Tell people to find cover!"
The family didn't need telling twice and rushed off as she spun back on her heels to face Leandro. He roared at her, flames coming out of his mouth and she raised her gun again. She would shoot to kill if she had to, but she didn't want to. All she had to do was subdue him.
"You know what really irritates me about you?" she asked him. "It's not the furs, or the crown, or the 'better than thou' attitude. It's not even the unnecessary bloodlust." He lunged at her and she dove to the ground, rolling out of the way before scrambling back to her feet. "It's the fire breathing," she continued as if he hadn't tried to attack her. "Are you a lion or aren't you? Pick a lane and stick to it." He roared again and shot at him. "It's just too many things, that's all I'm saying. You're like a child writing a monster. Less is more."
Leandro took a swipe at her, slicing her arm with his claws and knocking her to the ground with ease. "I should have gone looking for you. The Doctor could have watched as I devoured you," he growled.
"Yes, you probably should have," Danni agreed, wheezing slightly. "But you didn't, and that's your fault." She raised her gun, pointing it directly at his chest, hoped the Doctor would forgive her then pulled the trigger.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor felt incredibly conflicting emotions as Danni rushed off to fight Leandro. He was terrified that she would get hurt, or worse, as she fought the alien that was trying to destroy the planet. He wanted to rush over and pull her back but he knew that it was more than likely that they'd both just get killed. It was pretty evident, almost instantly, that she knew exactly how to look after herself and interrupting because of his own fear would probably hinder her rather than help her.
He realised what she was doing. She was buying him time to think of a plan whilst she kept their more immediate problem busy. She hadn't discussed it, she hadn't thought that he needed to be brought in on the plan. She had just looked over the situation, decided what was best and was going for it. She was the better fighter, he was the better thinker, so she'd split them up accordingly. She had defaulted to doing everything on her own again. She didn't think to include him because her plan was just that; hers.
On one hand, her taking control because she still couldn't see people were there to help her was a little devastating. On the other, he really enjoyed watching her take charge. The confidence alone was incredibly attractive.
There was a lot of mixed emotions. All he did know was that if he was going to help and save his wife and everyone else then he needed to close the rift.
"Stop this!" Me cried from his side, hitching her dress off as if she was going to join Danni in her fight. "They are defenceless!"
He grabbed her arm before she could attack Leandro in her anger. "Ashildr!" he cried. "He doesn't care!"
She looked up at him, eyes passionate. "But I do!" she shouted back. She didn't correct him on the use of her old name, instead her eyes widened in shock. "Oh, God, I do," she realised. "I actually do! I-I care!"
He grinned at her. Both he and Danni were worried and horrified at the way her heart had closed on the universe, but just like Danni couldn't keep the caring away neither could Ashildr. The young woman he had saved was still in there and now she was fighting her way to the top.
"It's awful, isn't it?" he asked. "It's infuriating. You think you don't care, then you fall off the wagon."
"Nevermind about me," Ashildr replied. "What are we going to do about them? We have to help them. They need you." She met his eyes and he could see the compassion returning to them. "They need us."
The sound of the gunshot made them both jump in alarm. He spun, eyes wide as he looked for his wife. She was on the floor, on her back, and Leandro had been blasted away from her. He didn't move, but neither did she and the Doctor rushed to her side. His shoes slipped on the mud that the grass had been turned into from the stampede of terrified people and he fell to the floor next to her.
"Danni, Danni…" he started, trailing off as she groaned.
"He's fucking heavy," she grumbled, opening her eyes and looking up at her husband. "I didn't shoot to kill."
He blinked, a little taken aback by her declaration. But he could see in her eyes that she needed him to know so he nodded, helping her and himself off the ground. "I know," he replied. "Are you hurt?"
She looked at her arm, the blood starting to soak into the tatters of her sleeve. Luckily, though, the wound wasn't particularly deep. "I'll be fine," she replied. "What about the King of the Savanah over there?"
Ashildr had gone to his side, quickly checking over the creature she had thought would have been her salvation. He didn't move and he didn't seem to be breathing. The wound on his chest seemed pretty severe. If she had to take a guess, she would have said he was dead. She'd been enough around death to spot it almost instantly.
But she could also spot Danni's desperation when she'd told the Doctor she hadn't intended to kill him. And she knew a woman who counted her dead took it all too seriously for her to be able to let it go now. "I think he's still alive," she told them both, rushing back to their side. "What do we do?"
They both looked at the Doctor, who nodded to himself to get his brain back on track. He ignored the fact that Ashildr was quite obviously lying. He knew why and, for the moment, he appreciated the effort.
"Okay. Okay. Er…" He looked up towards the portal in the sky. The beam of light coming from Sam's lifeforce was still incredibly bright. They needed to shut the portal. "Eyes of Hades. Afterlife. Death opens up a gateway," he listed off. He was always fantastic at spotting a pattern and he noticed it right away. "We need to close it."
The fireballs were becoming more vicious, people were still screaming and Leandro wasn't moving at all. "Yeah, I know, but how?" Ashildr asked.
"Sam Swift, he's the conduit. The amulet, it's still in him. It's his death that's opening the rift," the Doctor explained. "So what do we do?"
Ashildr grinned. "Reverse it."
"But he's already dead," Danni pointed out. "We can't just change that now."
"Oh, yes, we can," Ashildr replied, reaching into her dress where she pulled out the second Mire repair chip the Doctor had left her long ago. Danni shook her head.
"But that'll make him immortal. Like you," she protested.
"It will save everyone," Ashildr countered, turning to rush over to Sam. Danni looked up at her husband.
"But we can't do that to someone else!" she continued to protest. "It's not fair!"
The Doctor could feel her panic. Part of him echoed it as well. But seeing Ashildr fight for the planet gave him some sort of reassurance that Sam would be okay even if he was made immortal. "The power will be drained from reversing the portal. It should bring him back to life and nothing more."
Danni looked at him suspiciously for a moment. "You made that up," she accused.
"All I do is make it up," the Doctor countered. "You've always said I work best when I have to make it up as I go."
Danni couldn't disagree with him there. She still was slightly nervous, though, as Ashildr pressed the patch to Sam's head. The purple stream of energy coming from the amulet turned a bright gold, slowly closing the portal. Danni smacked her husband on the arm. "It's working!" she cried excitedly. He resisted the urge to rub where she'd hit him – she didn't realise just how hard she'd done so, it would seem – but he did grin along.
"It is!" he crowed next to her. She grabbed his hand, bouncing up and down and staring at the sky. She missed the way Leandro's body began to glow before dissolving into dust. He was glad for that, because he hadn't seen her express that much happiness in much too long. Just like Ashildr, this adventure was bringing out the best in her.
The light disappeared and Sam looked around, incredibly confused. "I'm alive?" he asked out loud, looking at the small crowd who were coming out of their hiding places. He looked at his hands. His actual hands. "I'm alive!" he crowed, happier than he had ever been.
Danni all but pulled the Doctor over to the platform as the crowd cheered and Sam laughed because he didn't know what to do. His life had been torn away and then given back to him. Danni caught Ashildr's gaze, seeing the relief in her eyes. She smiled. "That's more like it, isn't it?" she asked the other woman.
"What is?" Ashildr replied, brows furrowed.
"Life," Danni clarified. "Living and let live. It's so much better, isn't it?" The Doctor pulled her close, placing a kiss on her hair and she only shrugged away after letting him do it. Me, or Ashildr she didn't really mind the reminder anymore, watching with a heavy heart; hopefully one day she would be able to find someone to 'let live' with as well.
~0~0~0~
It had been Sam's idea for everyone to celebrate life and freedom at the local tavern, and Danni had insisted that they go. The Doctor hadn't minded too much until they had reached the door, where she had frozen, falling into something that she wasn't ready to share yet. The sign, the wooden door, the slate roof…
"Danielle?"
She looked up at her husband, who looked terribly concerned. Her eyes stung for a moment before she realised that she was about to cry. Even Ashildr and Sam, who hadn't left their side since he'd come back from the dead, looked a bit bewildered and worried.
She sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I-I think I might just stay out here," she told them all. "Just for a bit. It's-It's my arm," she gave it a little shrug to show off the scratches, "it's just irritating me."
"Maybe it's time we went home…" the Doctor started but Danni shook her head.
"No, go have fun," she insisted. "You saved the day and I won't be a minute."
Sam clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, come on Doctor. Let's celebrate. Life is fantastic once again!" He manoeuvred the Time Lord into the tavern, leaving Me at Danni's side.
She watched the travelling woman stare at the building, trying desperately to suppress the memory back into whatever little box she had placed it in. Me shuffled slightly, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories for you," she said sincerely.
"We all have bad memories of many things. Even those we've forgotten," Danni replied. "But mainly they're just ones you wish you could forget."
"The Doctor is a good man. If you told him, he'd forgive you," Me told her.
"I know," Danni replied. "He'd forgive most things I've done."
"But you can't forgive yourself," Me finished. Danni nodded slowly. "Do you wish you were like me? My memories only span a hundred years or so. You would forget, eventually?"
Danni shook her head. "My memories are dying off too," she explained. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Bad memories are still part of you. That woman who you saw in the tavern? She was still me. I never want to forget who I am." She sighed heavily.
Me watched her for a moment longer. There was more going on in her head than even she could read. "You should come inside," she instructed. "Whichever part of you that you think the Doctor wouldn't approve of is still part of you. If he doesn't approve then maybe you've got a bigger problem on your hands than some bad memories."
She headed into the tavern, opening the door on loud merriment and celebration. She quickly spotted the table that the Doctor had been sat at by Sam. He didn't look best pleased to be on his own, but Me did feel a slight amount of smugness as he perked up slightly at her appearance.
"Danielle still outside?" he asked her.
"She'll be in soon enough, Doctor," Me replied in amusement. "You can survive a few more minutes without her."
"I survived more than a few minutes without her. I just don't want to, that's all."
Me looked around the room, at all the silly little humans enjoying their short, fleeting lives. Her eyes fell on Sam Swift, who was surrounded by friends and laughing like he didn't have a care in the world. "Is he immortal now?"
The Doctor looked over his shoulder at the thief. "Do you want him to be?"
"I don't think I want anyone to be," Ashildr admitted.
That was a good answer. Even the Doctor, who hadn't wanted to lose his wife to death as was inevitable with humans, also never wished immortality on her. He just had wished to spend his life with her.
"You're still not going to take me with you, are you," Me stated rather than asked. She knew the answer and the Doctor didn't even look guilty.
"People like us, we go on too long. We forget what matters. The last thing we need is each other," he explained. "We need the mayflies." He nodded behind him towards Sam Swift. "See, the mayflies, they know more than we do. They know how beautiful and precious life is because it's fleeting. Look how Sam Swift made every last moment count, right to the gallows. Look how glad he is to be alive. I looked into your eyes and I saw my worst fears. Weariness. Emptiness."
Me looked over at Sam, watching him joke and laugh with the people around him. The Doctor was right; they were too big, too vast. People like Sam brought them back down to Earth. They showed them the joys of life when they were too far away to see it. "Who is your mayfly?" she asked. "You and Danni are vast, just like me. Who shows you the 'beauty of life'?"
He smiled slightly. Fondly. "Danni wasn't always immortal," he explained. "Well, actually, she was, but we didn't know it. She was brought up to be fleeting. She saw every moment as it was – unique, and new, and wonderful. When we found out that she was like me she never lost that. She's terrified that she will but I've seen it. Centuries of heartache and pain and she still lives each day like it's her last. She sees the wonder in the universe when I can't see it, and in turn I can show her it when she fails to notice it around her."
"Some people would call that incredibly sentimental," Me pointed out. The Doctor nodded.
"Some people would call me an incredibly sentimental person," he replied. "That's not the worst thing to be." He picked up the drink Sam had bought him as if he was going to take a sip. Instead he pointed it at Me. "I travelled with another immortal once. Danielle's father. Captain Jack Harkness."
Me's nose wrinkled in her confusion. "Who?"
The Doctor thought back on Jack. He was the man who had given him his wife. He'd been a good companion, and a great friend. He was so used to him always being around that, for a moment, he'd forgotten that now was not his time. "He'll get 'round to you eventually," he replied with a hint of a joke that he knew she would understand eventually. "How did you know we were coming?"
Ashildr paused for a moment, looking him over as she worked out if she should tell him, or pay close attention to Danni's threat. It wasn't her story to tell, after all.
Then she thought to the woman outside, who was so obviously desperate for someone to talk to that Me could practically smell it. She could pick out people's weaknesses, after all. It was a talent she had cultivated over many, many years. Danni was hiding from her husband, and he in turn was looking for others to heal for it.
"A woman," she started. "I was in a tavern, much like this one. I was on my own and she approached me. She wore the strangest clothes and really didn't belong. And she came with your wife."
The Doctor's hearts, for one moment, stopped completely. "Missy," he breathed.
"She never gave a name," Me replied, but the Doctor knew that she was exactly who had approached Ashildr in the tavern. "She had come to tell me that you were coming, and that the only thing she asked me to do in return was tell you what happened."
He frowned. "What happened?" he repeated.
"Danni was sat with two men. Two men that, it would seem, she had been sold to." His hands clenched on the table top and Me watched with a critical gaze. She'd seen him hopeful and tired, but never furious. "It wasn't particularly pleasant, but I live and lived in unpleasant times. It didn't seem out of the ordinary. Danni, though, hadn't been told what was happening to her. Let's just say she was less than pleased when she found out she'd been handed off for the price of a beer. She fought against the two men, and then she killed one of them."
The Doctor leant back, the air leaving him at the revelation before he rocked slightly, realising he was on a stool and not a chair. Danni had killed someone. She had been sold. Had that happened before? Had the others gotten much further than the men in the tavern? Why would Missy even allow someone else near what she had deemed as 'hers'? Money wasn't exactly high on the list of priorities for any of them. She had time travel. A couple of pennies for a pint wasn't going to be even on her list of worries.
"They disappeared a moment later and I never saw her again. Of course, I saw you and your wife when you stumbled into my heist," Me continued. "I did see something, though, before they disappeared."
The Doctor quickly rose his gaze, meeting her eyes. "What?"
"The face of a horrified woman," Me said. "Danni did not want to kill that man, like she didn't want to kill Leandro."
"That's why you didn't tell her he was dead," the Doctor guessed and she nodded. "You knew she would take it hard. You cared for her feelings."
"You've both shown me that we need to look out for each other," Me explained. "We can leave devastation in our wake without much thought. Just as I did today, you and your wife make waves. You travel the stars, leaving people in the dust. I'll be keeping a close eye on those you leave behind."
"So are we enemies now?" the Doctor asked her.
She smiled. "Of course not. Enemies are never a problem. It's your friends you have to watch out for. And, my friend, I'll be watching out for both of you."
He couldn't help but smile back. "Ashildr, I think I'm very glad I saved you," he said, for the first time being sure that he really was.
"Oh, I think everyone will be."
~0~0~0~
The rage was overwhelming. The room actually seemed to be tinged with a red hue, much like a cartoon. The noises fell away and the Earth became deathly silent. All except for the door closing behind her. It swung shut, smashing against the frame and the three people left in the room stared at her. One with worry, one with heartbreak, and one with fear.
Danni's lips pulled back, a snarl on her face as she met the eyes of Ashildr.
"I'm so sorry…"
"You," she snarled. "This is all on you. All of this. Everything. This is all on you."
"I never meant..."
With an inhuman amount of speed, Danni moved forward. She shoved Me against the wall, pressing her arm against her throat and pinned her tightly.
"You may never be able to die," she started with a snarl. "But I will kill you again and again for what you have done. I will burn you over and over until the end of the universe. You will not survive what you've done to Clara."
~0~0~0~
Hello everybody! Hope you're all having a great day! If you are, great! If not, well, I hope this gives you a few minutes of respite :)
Just a reminder that it's Danni's Anniversary this Sunday (3rd June) so come join the fun! And keep an eye on the Outtakes because a new one will be going up that evening.
Reviews :)
bored411 - Yeah, I very much enjoyed the flirting! It was inevitable with her parents XD
serenitysaiyan - Hehe maybe, or just another coincidence. You can never tell with Danni :P I also wouldn't like to say XD
Michael Thomas1 - I'm going to address this here and I'm not going to address it again. I've been doing this for five years, so guess what? I do rather care and you do not get to tell me otherwise. This is not my job and I do not get paid for it. I'll put as much time as I see fit and if I feel like sitting around not writing for a week or more, that's up to me. If I decide to post seventeen chapters in one day, that's also up to me. I appreciate you reading my story, but it is just that - mine.