A/N: Alright, so I have some 'episodes' included in my story, but I tend to get a bit bored when I'm reading them, so I tried to do something a little different. I'm trying to stick as closely to the episode as possible by not including the OC in any major scenes. But well, it made it very, non action orientated. So, let me know what you think! Better to stick to canon and have slightly less action? Or just go full blown, throwing my character into the episodes? Cause I've got a few more that I'm still on the fence about. Thanks for reading!
-1599-
-The Globe Theater-
"Another play? Tomorrow?" Kempe seemed to be having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea. Shakespeare may have been brilliant, but he was an impossible kind of brilliant. The whole thing was likely to be a disaster. Of course, Calypso had thought that before and somehow the bard managed to pull it off time and time again. The people who came to watch seemed to love everything he put out, and she had to admit, the man had a way with words. Kemp shuffled off with the rest of the actors to go grumble at William; while Robert lingered at the door, waiting for her. She shooed away the young sandy blond haired man, she had been lucky to get a job with the company. The last thing she wanted to do was create drama in the ranks because she was cavorting with one of the actors. He flashed her a grin and disappeared around the corner with the rest of them.
She pulled the heavy wig off her scalp, the cool air a much-needed relief. Splashing her face with water, she had to scrub to get the worst of the thick make-up off. Her skin was nearly raw by the time she got it all. It was a huge pain, and it seemed so unnecessary. Of course, if she didn't look like the rest of the men in drag, people might start to question, and if people started to question, she might not have a job at all. It hadn't been too difficult to convince Shakespeare, one night, late at the pub. He was, after all, a fairly modern man, and prone to flattery. It had taken her three shows to memorize his work, word for word. But it had paid off in the end; Shakespeare had been impressed and hired her on the spot. The rest of the crew didn't need much convincing, after all, Shakespeare said it was so, and so it was.
It was such a rush up on the stage, performing for the people. She lived for the cheers of triumph, and the hissing directed at the villainous characters. To hold that kind of sway over the audience made her feel powerful, and strong. And so did her young Robert, in his own way. Of course, he was temporary, she made sure of that. She made it very clear to him that it was just a bit of fun, he didn't seem to mind in the least. The fleetingness of the situation made it seem more exciting, she felt more alive than ever. But sometimes, also, crushingly lonely. She dunked her whole face into the basin of water, pushing away those dark thoughts that threatened to drag her down into the frightening depths of her mind and never release their hold. She dried her face with a towel and dumped it next to the wig.
"Calypso!" The voice came from behind her and her heart skipped a beat when she recognized it. She turned around to see the Doctor standing there, his hair in complete disorder and a broad grin on his face.
"Doctor!" She said with a grin, standing from her stool and rushing forward to give him a hug. "How many beads have you got?" She asked, pulling away quickly, mindful of how their last meeting had gone.
"Beads? Oh," He stuffed his hand into his pocket, searching. "Ah, here we are then," He produced the silver strand and she could see several. "Looks like I've got four. Why?" He looked at her curiously and she felt relieved. It would be nice to be on the same page as him. She pulled her own necklace from beneath her dress and smiled.
"I've got the same, so this will be five."
"Well isn't that brilliant!" He said with a grin. "We're all lined up."
"Doctor? He's gone to the inn-" A dark skinned woman strode into the room, her clothes fit her like a glove and Calypso tried not to stare. She did look startled to see them and frowned as she approached. "Who…?" She looked to the Doctor to explain.
"Ah, Martha! There you are. This is Calypso."
"Hello Martha." Calypso donned her most polite smile and presented her hand to shake.
"Oh…hello." Martha accepted her hand, but seemed less than enthusiastic about it. "Is she another…companion of yours?" She released her hand as quickly as she could and looked back to the Doctor.
"Oh, no. No. Calypso is…different." He smiled lopsidedly. "She's a friend I run into, on occasion. Which reminds me." He stuffed the necklace away and from the same pocket pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "This is my sonic screwdriver," He carefully explained to her, Calypso tried not to laugh. "It's not going to hurt; I just wanted to check something." He scanned the screwdriver around her head, looking at the blue light carefully. "It is Huon energy." He frowned at the reading, seemingly talking to himself. "That's impossible…unless-" He wandered in a circle and began to rummage through his pockets.
"So, you're in the play then?" Martha asked brightly when it looked like the Doctor would be distracted for a while yet. Calypso thought the woman was warming to her, but when she looked up, she couldn't help but feel like she was…sizing her up.
"Yes, I am. Did you like it?" She put on her best pleasant smile and tried to stay polite. It was hard not to miss the grinning face of Donna; she would have to ask the Doctor just what determined someone worthy to travel with.
"Yeah, yeah. That Shakespeare really knows his stuff." Martha nodded and the silence between them grew, the Doctor was having no luck finding whatever he had been searching for. "Speaking of which," Martha directed her comment to the preoccupied man. "Shouldn't we be going, you know, to see him?"
"Yeah…" The Doctor looked at the sonic once more with a frown. "I suppose it can wait." He turned back to Calypso. "I'll get back to you on that. I guess we'll see you performing tomorrow then, right?" Whatever had diverted his thoughts was dismissed and the same plucky grin was displayed on his face.
"I'll make sure you have excellent seats waiting for you." Calypso smiled and the Doctor gave her another hug. Martha kept her distance and they settled on a gracious smile as their farewell.
Kempe had been acting strangely all night, and so had Dick for that matter. They had both shown up right before rehearsals looking white as ghosts and had refused to utter the last speech of the play. Dick had reassured everyone that he had the lines memorized though; he claimed it would have greater impact if he only said it once. They had all read it, and none of it seemed to make sense, but it wasn't their job to question the script, so they had moved on. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, because it was difficult to watch the man carefully during the play. But if she had to guess, she thought Kempe looked nervous. And that was strange in itself, because he was the veteran actor of them all; there was no reason for him to be uncomfortable on stage. She had to dismiss it though, she had nearly missed her cue twice trying to spy on him, and she was determined not to do it again.
"Stop the play! I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. This performance must be stopped!" Shakespeare had suddenly burst through the prop doors, his arms waving about as he dashed onto the stage and started to shout. Was this some kind of ruse that had been planned? It didn't seem to fit into the scene at all and the rest of the actors around her looked just as confused. "Sorry-" But suddenly the words died on his lips and he collapsed to the ground.
They stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do with the unconscious bard.
"Get him off the stage." She heard Dick muttering beneath his breath. The 'ladies' all stepped forward and hustled him back through the door he had come from. Kempe stood up as they exited, making his own little rhyme to amuse the audience.
"You must forgive our irksome Will; he's been on the beer, and feeling ill." She heard the murmur of clapping and laughter as they rounded the corner toward the back of the theater. It was true, it wasn't the first time William had showed up to one of his plays drunk. Nor was it the first time he had tried to interrupt one while intoxicated, but he didn't seem drunk at all.
"See if you can't get him up. And make sure he stays off the bloody stage!" Dick looked furious as he stormed back out to the front.
"What am I supposed to do? I don't know what he's up to." Calypso stared at the rest of the actors who were slowly making their way back to the curtain.
"You're the woman; you do the healing, yeah?" Robert smirked teasingly. "Just keep him busy. Else Dick will be angry with you as well." Then he also disappeared around the corner, leaving her alone with the useless lump.
She grabbed a pail of water and tried dabbing it against his temple, but he didn't stir. He didn't reek of ale, which she thought was odd, and no amount of cold water was rousing him. He was completely out of it, and the only sign that he was still alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest. Kempe came back a few minutes later to check on how she was doing, but she just shook her head.
"He's out cold. I've never seen him like this. He won't wake at all."
"Guess the pressure of writing a play in a single night got to him." He said with a grin. "That'll teach him."
"I don't know," Calypso frowned. "I'm really worried." She shook his shoulder again, but he didn't stir from the chair.
"Tell you what, if he's not sorted by the end, we'll bring the physician around." Kempe squeezed her shoulder reassuringly with a smile. "I'm sure he'll be up in no time." He hustled back toward the front, probably to give his last lines of the play. She thought of the Doctor then, he would know what to do. But maybe she was overreacting; perhaps the mix of stress and probably alcohol had simply been too much for him.
"Mmmm…" He groaned, his head lolled to the side on his shoulders.
"Will?" She whispered, holding a hand to his chest to steady him. "Are you alright?" She asked as he seemed to be waking. But suddenly the shadows in the back of the theater were flickering unnaturally, and the dust was billowing up into her eyes. She turned to see that some strange lights were shining from beyond the stage. Will didn't seem to be waking any faster, so she stood to go investigate. Barely pulling back the curtains so that she could peek out to the stage without being seen.
But she needn't have bothered hiding; the madness over the stage would have been enough to disguise an elephant. There was a massive cyclone, twisting and spitting in the air like an angry cat. Red fire and lightning bolts flew out in all directions, cracking against the wood frames of the Globe and causing sparks to explode above their heads. People were screaming and rushing for the doors, but there were too many at once, there was no way they could all escape. The whole building started to shake as the thing grew and grew above their heads, shades danced within the tornado, demons would appear only to vanish within the cloud again.
"Oh Gods." She murmured, wanting to step back from the stage. Stop the play. He had said, but why? How had he known about this? It didn't matter now, it looked like whatever he had hoped to prevent was happening. She turned back to where she had left the bard, crumpled in his chair, maybe he could tell her what was going on. Maybe there was still something she could do.
"Outta my way!" A man screamed nearby, he had climbed the stage and was now rushing through the back area, trying to escape. He shoved past her as he ran for the side door, and she was so startled she lost her footing, tripping over Will's outstretched foot and tumbling toward the table. She cracked her head as she fell and everything faded to black.
