Without further ado, I give you, The Shakespeare Code. ;)
The Shakespeare Code
by: fangirl0012345
Everything shook as the TARDIS wobbled around. Martha was clinging to the control panel, the Doctor was running around pressing levers and buttons, and I was lying flat on my back on the ground. Voluntarily. You see, I loved to lie on my back. It was relaxing and comforting. So since I was just going to fall if I stood up, I decided to lie down. Of course I also increased the risk of being squished, but whatever. Martha was asking the Doctor ridiculous questions. Things like how the TARDIS worked, what made her go, so on and so forth. Can I just say, BORING. Better to just know it worked then to ask how. Suddenly, I was jutted out of my thoughts by the TARDIS stopping. "Where are we?" Martha and I asked at the same time.
"Take a look. After you," the Doctor said, pointing outside.
I looked out and was shocked. I was met with the sight of people cleaning their clothes, shovelling manure, talking, eating, selling things, and just being people. Although clearly this was not the same century. Whilst Martha and the Doctor were still beside the TARDIS, I had approached a civilian. "Excuse me sir," I started.
The man I had tapped on the shoulder turned to look at me. "I just had a small memory lapse and I've forgotten the date. Do you think you could tell me precisely when and where I am? I am awfully forgetful," I said, in my cutest and most convincing voice.
The man looked a little annoyed as he said, "Mid fall. London. 1599. Now be on your way and let me be.
I frowned as I walked off. I didn't know men from London 1599 would be so mean. I walked over to Martha and the Doctor. Martha asked, "Whoa, you don't mean, is Shakespeare in there?"
The Doctor noticed me and said, "Oh yes. Miss Jones, Miss Hanna, would you accompany me to the theater?"
"Mister Smith, I will," Martha said.
"If it's to see Shakespeare, then why not. Maybe we will see Macbeth! When the guy gets stabbed for real!" I said eagerly.
The Doctor shook his head. "That hasn't happened yet. And it won't happen for quite some time," he said.
"Awww. You've crushed my dreams Doctor. I wanted to see it. Maybe alter history a little and save the dead guy," I said, my face filled with an over-exaggerated sad face.
The Doctor just chuckled at how ridiculous I was being. We slowly made our way to the Globe Theater, the Doctor sprouting random facts along the way.
We arrived just as a performance finished. Everyone was applauding the actors. Martha and the Doctor were discussing who knows what. But it was obvious from the look in his eyes that Shakespeare was a hero to the Doctor. Finally, the man himself came onstage. The clapping must have increased ten fold as be bowed. "Ah shut your big fat mouths!" Shakespeare said with a laugh.
The entire stadium burst out laughing. "Oh well," said the Doctor, looking visibly defeated.
"They say you should never meet your idols," Martha said.
I shot her a glare. "It's alright Doctor. I'm sure he was just saying that for a laugh," I said, rubbing his arm to comfort him.
The Doctor looked at me sadly and said, "Yeah but I never thought these would be the first words I would hear from William Shakespeare. Hey, that rhymed!"
We turned our attention back to Shakespeare. "I know what you're all saying. Loves Labour's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius," he said.
He suddenly went rigid and said, "When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Loves Labour's Won."
I frowned. That play didn't exist. I had a bad feeling about this… Martha and the Doctor had the same thoughts that I did. "I'm not an expert or anything, but I've never heard of Love's Labours Won," said Martha.
"Yeah guys. I actually took a class about him. It's a lost play. Supposedly NEVER EXISTED," I said with an expression on my face that said 'guys these are the facts'.
"Well, have you got a mini-disc or something? We can tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint," Martha said.
"No," the Doctor and I said in unison.
"That would be bad," Martha said, although it was more of a question then a statement.
"Yeah, yeah," the Doctor said.
"Very, VERY bad," I said.
"Well, how come it disappeared in the first place?" asked Martha.
I was starting to fidget. We were still in the theatre and we hadn't moved. I didn't like standing still. "Well, I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer," the Doctor said to Martha.
Martha started grinning like an idiot, but I kept my normal face on. For some reason, I felt a little pang in my chest when he smiled a her like that. Naaaah. Probably just my imagination.
A little while later found us at the house of one William Shakespeare. Well, it was actually a sort of apartment thing from the middle ages or whatever, but Mr. Shakespeare lived here. "What are we doing here, Doctor?" I asked.
I hoped he wasn't doing what I thought... Of course, the Doctor had to change the subject. "I just noticed. We're both wearing Converse!"
I rolled my eyes. I guess I would have to play his silly game to get my answer. I looked down at our feet, and noticed that he was right. "So we are!" I replied with mock enthusiasm dripping off of my voice.
The Doctor nodded, sighed and said, "Interesting. Well, to answer your question, we are here to see William Shakespeare!"
And with that, he walked into the building without so much as a second thought. I rolled my eyes, and, unwillingly, followed.
We seemed to have entered the building whilst he was in a meeting, because there were two men sitting at a table with Mr. Shakespeare, arguing about something.
"Hello! Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?" the Doctor asked.
I facepalmed. Could he have been any more blunt? Or rude? Scratch that. He could have. Shakespeare obviously had dealt with this before, because he said, "Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove."
I was about to turn to leave when he spotted Martha and said, to my utter enjoyment, "Hey, nonny nonny. Sit right down here next to me. You two get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."
The two men he had been speaking to glared at both him and us, and then left. I was still trying to hold in my laughs from Shakespeare's reaction to Martha. I was still behind the Doctor, and I didn't think Shakespeare would take a liking to me. Of course, that all changed when the Doctor sat down beside Martha and Shakespeare saw me.
"Dear lady, if I were not sure that I was in the world of the living I could have sworn that I had died, and gone to heaven, because you are an angel," he said, a flirtatious look on his face.
I blushed furiously, and sat next to him, where he had motioned. I looked over to the Doctor and could have sworn I saw him glare at Shakespeare. But before I knew it, his awestruck look was back.
Shakespeare looked at Martha, then me, then back to Martha before saying, "Such unusual clothes. So... fitted."
I blushed even harder at the realization of his words. How would he know they where fitted if he hadn't looked too closely...? Martha seemed to have been at a loss for words, because she said, "Er, verily, forsooth, egads."
"No, no, don't do that," the Doctor said before turning to Shakespeare.
I tuned out and leaned towards Martha. "What the hell? Verily? Forsooth? EGADS?! I don't want to be rude Martha, but even I can tell that they don't say that. Ugh." I whispered... yelled... both.
I turned to see both the Doctor and Shakespeare staring at us. "What?" I said.
They just went back to the their conversation. The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper, flashed it to Shakespeare and said, "I'm Sir Doctor of TARDIS, this is my companion, Miss Martha Jones, and my other companion, Miss Alex Hanna," pointing at each of us respectively.
"Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank," Shakespeare said.
I looked at the paper and saw it was, in fact, blank. "Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius," the Doctor said.
Martha looked at the paper, a confused expression on her face. "No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Martha Jones. It says so," she said, a little to forcibly if I do say so myself.
"And I say it's blank," Shakespeare retorted.
"Martha, what do you mean? The only thing I see there is a very off white colour. Really. It looks like parchment... shouldn't it be whiter?" I asked, turning to face the Doctor.
"Psychic paper. Er, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch," the Doctor said, exasperated.
"Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?" asked Shakespeare.
Both Martha and my mouths dropped. "What did you say?" we said, in sync.
"Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?" Shakespeare said, not realizing what he had done.
I was even more insulted that a) he would consider those words any better and that b) he hadn't apologized to Martha yet. Apparently Martha thought the same thing. "I can't believe I'm hearin' this," Martha said, shaking her head.
"It's political correctness gone mad. Er, Martha's from a far-off land. Freedonia. And Alex is from a land called..." the Doctor trailed off, turning to me for help.
"Ottawa. It's ghastly there, though. So many buildings made of concrete, everything grey and drab. No fun at all," I said.
I actually found Shakespeare interesting. I put my hand under my chin and leaned towards him with a flirtatious look. Shakespeare smiled at me and was about to say something when a well dressed man walked in and said, "Excuse me! Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."
I raised my eyebrows. Who was he to come barging in? Didn't he hear of knock-... oh right. I should shut up since we did the same. "Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round," Shakespeare said knowingly.
He had obviously dealt with this man before. But this guy wasn't having it, because he retorted with an annoying, "I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!"
I rolled my eyes, while Shakespeare replied with, "I can't."
The man walked forwards a bit and said, "Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled. I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labours Won will never be played."
He then proceeded to stalk out.
"Jeez. SOMEONE overreacted," I stated.
Martha sighed, turned to the Doctor and said, "Well then, mystery solved. That's Love's Labours Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious."
Suddenly, we heard a scream outside and a woman yelled, "HELP ME!"
We all rushed out of the building to where we heard the scream to see a staggering play/dude/man. He seemed to be choking on something. He was also soaked. I had seen enough movies to know that this guy was drowning. Not only because of movies, but also because I used to be a lifeguard and had saved more than two lives. "It's that Lynley bloke," Martha said.
I looked at her. "How do you know his name?" I asked.
I received no reply.
"What's wrong with him? Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."
"So am I, near enough," Martha retorted.
They both rushed towards him, but I stayed back with Mister Shakespeare. This so called Lynley collapsed, and my hands gripped his arm. "Dear lady, be calm. With two doctors attending to him, he shall be fine," he said, attempting to calm me.
Martha started pumping his chest and said, "Got to get the heart going. Mister Lynley, come on. Can you hear me? You're going to be all right."
Water suddenly started gushing out of his mouth. "What is that?" Martha said, pausing for a moment.
"I've never seen a death like it. His lungs are full of water. He drowned and then, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow," the Doctor said, staring intensely at the deceased man.
He looked up and saw the owner of the inn Shakespeare was staying at. "Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away," he called to her.
"Yes sir," she said.
Suddenly, a blonde popped up and said, "I'll do it ma'am."
She walked off, unnaturally happy. I frowned. A man just died, so why was she grinning from ear to ear...?
"And why are you telling them that?" Martha said, unknowing to what was going on in history at the moment.
"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft," the Doctor stated offhandedly.
"Okay, what was it then?" Martha inquired.
"Witchcraft," the Doctor said.
He looked at Martha, a very grim expression on his face.
*Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey*
"I got you a room, Sir Doctor. You, Miss Jones and Miss Hanna are just across the landing," the landlady said.
"Poor Lynley. So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?" Shakespeare said to Martha.
"Where a woman can do what she likes," Martha corrected.
"And this land of Ottawa, where woman wear such... fitted... clothes?" Shakespeare asked me, his eyes lingering too long on my chest for my liking.
"Where woman can do as they please without men ordering them around or treating them like dogs. Of course, some men are a disgrace to the new culture and think woman to be toys only used for their personal pleasure. whether it be sexual, sadistic or just plain evil," I retorted with a smirk.
Shakespeare seemed to get the point, because he turned to look at the Doctor and said, "And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"
The Doctor looked worried for a moment before replying with, "I do a lot of reading."
"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do. And you? You look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me," Shakespeare said, although it was directed at Martha.
"I think we should say goodnight," Martha said quickly, before exiting into her room.
"I must work. I have a play to complete. But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, and I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours," Shakespeare said.
The Doctor left, and I was about to go before Shakespeare grabbed my wrist. "Explain this to me. Why do you look at him as though you have just met him, even though you seem to be perfectly at ease with the Doctor?" he asked.
"I...I don't know," I replied honestly, "I guess I just...feel comfortable with him. We met two days ago. It was quite a shock. He was the man of my dreams. Literally. But yet, I feel as though we have been friends for life," I finished.
Shakespeare nodded, relinquished his hold on my wrist, and walked back to his office. I sighed, turned, and strode into the room the Doctor, Martha and I were sharing. I got in JUST as the Doctor fell back on the bed. "Jeez, Doctor, move over. I'd like to sleep to," I said with a laugh.
"There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing, Martha, Alex. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it. Rose'd know. A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she'd say exactly the right thing. Still, can't be helped. You're a novice, never mind. I'll take you back home tomorrow," the Doctor said, obviously explaining something to Martha and I.
Martha then said, "Great," and snuffed out the candle.
I turned towards the Doctor and tapped his arm. "Doctor, did you mean Rose Tyler?" I asked quietly.
The Doctor's face seemed to reflect great sadness when I said her name. "Did you know her?" he asked.
I shook my head no. "For some reason, I FEEL like I do, but I have never in my life heard of Rose Tyler. I just get this feeling that I would have hated her, though," I said quietly.
The Doctor looked confused before saying, "Well, to some, she was an absolute menace. I guess it was her attitude. But I loved her."
For some reason, when he said that, I felt my chest tighten. No. He was MY Doctor, and this Rose Ty- Wait, when had those thoughts gotten there? They weren't normal. And when did I start referring to him as 'my' Doctor? Because he certainly wasn't mine. But when I thought that, some little voice in my head was screaming "CURSE ROSE TYLER AND HER MEDDLING! HE WAS MINE FIRST!" Yet it didn't make sense. She had come before me, right? Because I hadn't met the Doctor before today. At all. But still, I had that nagging feeling saying that it wasn't true... And how did my mom's fob watch get in my hand? I thought it was on my bedside table. Oh well. I must of picked it up while thinking. It seemed to be much heavier and warmer then before though. Must be my imagination. I put the watch back on the bedside table again, and quickly fell asleep...
I was awakened by a horrible, shrill scream that pierced the quite night. I shot up, as did the Doctor and Martha. "What was that?" I asked, already having guessed the answer.
"I don't know. Let's check it out," the Doctor said, frowning, as we all jogged to out of the room.
We ran into Shakespeare's office, just as he looked around. "What? What was that?" he inquired, fearful.
The Doctor looked at the landlady, while Martha looked out the window. "Her heart gave out. She died of fright," the Doctor said grimly.
I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. This was horrible. "She was so young, too. Had her life ahead of her," I said, sniffling.
"Doctor?" Martha said worriedly, from her position at the window.
"What did you see?" he said, concerned.
"A witch," Martha replied firmly.
I gulped. That was one of the things I was quite terrified of. Witches. They always creeped me out. I don't know why. I guess it was just the fact that they could pretty much do anything they wanted... like, for example, make young women die of fright and old men choke on lungful's of water whilst in open air.
The next morning, we had all assembled in Shakespeare's room. "Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats.
But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit," Shakespeare said.
I understood. I slowly tuned out, folding into my mind and following the stream of my thoughts. Martha looked like a confident girl. If that witch had her shaken up, it must have kind of scared Dolly. And who knows? She might have been as scared of witches as I had been. What had the Doctor said earlier? Right. They still had, and I quote, 'one foot in the Dark Ages.' That's witchcraft and sorcery. It scared them. So a witch appearing out of nowhere must have been scary. I mean, it's like, your being followed by a guy, then he disappears and you think your safe, but then he reappears and you're like 'aaaaah' because you're scared and thinking this just finished why did it have to start again? And if the guy following you scares you, it's even worse if he reappears after you start to think he's good. That's my sort of messed up opinion on all this. I tuned back into the conversation just as the Doctor said "The architect. Hold on. The architect! The architect! The Globe! Come on!
He ran out, Martha and Shakespeare following him. I paused a moment before saying to myself "I really have got to stop tuning out..." and trailing after the trio.
When we arrived, we walked in as though we owned the place. Although, we were with Shakespeare, and his crew was practicing in there, so he sort of did...
We walked into the middle of the room, all of us just looking around. It was so beautiful. Funny, though. There seemed to be a strange number of walls. I always remembered theatres to have say five or six, but this one seemed to have..."Fourteen..." I whispered.
"What was that?" the Doctor asked, turning his head towards me.
"Fourteen. There are fourteen walls in this place. Why is that?" I replied.
"Good question, Alex," the Doctor started, turning in place, "one that I intend to get the answer to. I have wondered that before, actually. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?"
Shakespeare glanced from me to the Doctor before replying, "It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well."
"Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen," muttered the Doctor.
"There's fourteen days in two weeks," I contributed, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.
The Doctor shook his head, frowning and rubbing his chin. He then took to staring around him at the theater.
"There's fourteen lines in a sonnet!" Martha said, enthusiastically.
"So there is. Good point. Words and shapes following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon. Think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines," rambled the Doctor.
"What about-" I started.
But then Shakespeare cut me off with "This is just a theater."
I opened my eyes wide, shocked. Wasn't this his whole life? Apparently the Doctor thought so to, because he then exclaimed "Oh yeah, but a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis a the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. But if you exaggerate that..."
The Doctor trailed off, and Martha decided to input "It's like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside."
"Or a brain. We can do so much with our brain, and all it is, is a muscle," I said, grinning from ear to ear.
The Doctor said "Oh. Oh, Martha Jones and Alex Hanna, I like you two. Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?
Shakespeare looked around, this clearly being a touchy subject to him. "You won't get an answer," he started, "a month after finishing this place, lost his mind."
"Lost his mind? How can that be? Did he perhaps fall? Or maybe he," I started. But then I thought better of it, and said "never mind."
"Why? What happened?" Martha asked, obviously too curious for her own good.
Something foul was brewing here, and I didn't like not knowing. "Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled," William explained.
We all paused for a moment, taking in this new information. "Where is he now?" the Doctor asked, his motive clear.
Shakespeare answered curtly, "Bedlam."
I widened my eyes, shocked. How could this be? "What's Bedlam?" asked Martha, clearly confused.
"Bethlam hospital. The madhouse." Shakespeare replied.
I leaned over to Martha and whispered angrily into her ear, "Imagine an asylum, but instead of trying to keep the patients happy and healthy, they give them little food and water and beat them when they are disobedient."
The Doctor stalked off, whilst stating, "We're going there now. Right now. Come on."
Shakespeare held up a hand and said "Wait! I'm coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand."
As we were about to leave, to young men entered, looking a little frazzled. "Ralph, the last scene as promised . Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it. Back before curtain up. And remember, kid, project. Eyes and teeth. You never know, the Queen might turn up. As if. She never does," Shakespeare told them.
We left after that.
During our walk there, Martha was behind us, speaking with Shakespeare. Well, flirting more like. That left the Doctor and I time to discuss some unresolved matters.
"Doctor..." I started.
He turned to look at me, and said, "Yes, Alex?"
"That Rose Tyler lady, she was one of your companions, wasn't she," I stated, saying this a little quieter and slower then usual so as to not project malice, seeing as it seemed like a touchy subject.
The Doctor frowned, sighed, and seemed to say with a heavy heart, "Yes... Why do you ask?
"Well, I don't think I've ever met her, but she seems so familiar. I think that I hated her, if we ever met," I replied, confusion etched across my face.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but before he could respond, we heard Martha giggle like a little schoolgirl. Scary sound. "Come on, Martha. We can all have a good flirt later," grumbled the Doctor.
"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Will questioned jokingly.
"Oh, fifty seven academics just punched the air. Now move!" he cried, trying to get them to hurry up.
"Guys, seriously, the play will start in around 12 hours. If we want to figure out why Dolly died, then hurry your tiny butts along," I stated, glaring evily at them.
That seemed to do the trick.
We arrived at Bedlam, both weary and fearful. As we walked in, I looked around and kept muttering, "Wrong. So wrong. This is utterly wrong.
The Doctor looked at me curiously, but said nothing.
The Keeper met us at the door, and started leading us to Peter Streete. "Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam," the Keeper said with a sadistic grin on his smug and dirty face
I opened my mouth wide in astonishment, prepared to hand his ass to him, but all that came out were small sounds of anger and frustration. Luckily, the Doctor spoke for me. "No I don't!" he yelled.
The Keeper looked slightly ashamed whilst he said, "Well, wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies."
He then proceeded to walk down the corridor, and then entered a cell. "So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?" Martha stated, clearly pissed off.
I once again leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Martha, this was a different age. They didn't know better. Don't blame them. In that day and age, it worked perfectly fine."
Martha's eyes widened as she heard what I said, but didn't say anything. Shakespeare rolled his eyes and said in a sarcastic voice, "Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia."
"But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?" Martha asked, and I mentally winced.
"Martha, don't..." I muttered, trying to stop her from picking at an old wound.
"I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves it's purpose," Will said, although I could detect the slightest hint of fear and sadness in his voice and eyes .
Without realizing it, I raised my hand and placed on his shoulder in a comforting manner. Shakespeare closed his eyes, and nodded his head, telling me he appreciated the gesture. My hand slowly slid off his shoulder as I saw Martha open her mouth to say something else. "Mad in what way?" she said.
"You lost your son," the Doctor stated, piping up.
"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there," Will commented, regret etched in his voice.
Martha seemed to be in shock as she replied, "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be. Oh, that's quite good," Shakespeare said, surprising himself and causing the Doctor, Martha and I to gain small grins.
"You should write that down," the Doctor said, smiling.
"Maybe not. A bit too pretentious?" Will said, questioning it
Before anyone had a chance to respond, the Keeper shouted, "This way, my lord!"
We quickly followed the Keeper down the hallway to a cell. He opened the door and ushered us in. He was staring at poor Mr. Streete with a vile expression on his face. "They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength," the man stated, obviously not knowing he was doing anything wrong.
The Doctor shouted, "I think t helps if you don't whip them. Now get out!"
The Keeper quickly hurried out of the cell, not wanting to face the Doctors' wrath. "Doctor," I started, "I'm not for whipping prisoners, but that man didn't know any better. And, I hate seeing people getting yelled at. It makes me hurt inside. I just... don't like people being hurt. Whether it's a bit or a lot. It pains me, in my heart. I know he was guilty of hurting these poor men, but don't yell when I'm around. Please."
The Doctor's eyes softened as he listened to my words. And it was true. It hurt me, on the inside, to see someone yelled at or injured like that. I may sound like a Mary Jane, but I wasn't. It genuinely pained me to see anything hurt. I even regret killing flies. Because they didn't know any better. Well, unless they did, in which case hand me the effing knife. "Alright..." he murmured.
The Doctor then turned his head towards the man on the cot and said, "Peter? Peter Streete?"
Shakespeare, clearly having seen this before, said, "He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing out of him."
I shook my head. Peter didn't seem like he was mad. More like he was... scared. Of what, I didn't know. The Doctor leaned in closer and said in a louder voice, "Peter?"
The Doctor placed his hand on Peters' shoulder, and then Peter slowly looked up.
A moment later, the Doctor placed his fingers to Mr. Streete's temple, looked into his eyes, then said, "Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go. That's it. That's it, just let go."
He then leaned Peter back into his cot. The man looked so peaceful, I felt so bad for him. His mind must have been plagued with many scary thoughts. "Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches," the Doctor said, not breaking his eye contact with the man.
"Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. They whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design! The fourteen walls. Always fourteen. When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits," Peter said, nervous and quivering.
"Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me, where were they?" the Doctor said, raising his voice just a moment.
"Doctor-" I started to tell him to calm down, but then shut my mouth as I saw a witch had appeared.
"All Hallows Street," Peter stead, and I knew he was doomed.
I shook my head, muttering, "No. No. Please. No," under my breath.
The witch advanced towards us, out of the light and growled, "Too many words."
"What the hell?" Martha exclaimed.
"Doctor.. she's going to... she's a..." I kept trying to say something, but every time I tried to say it, the thought receded to the very recesses of my mind.
I growled at my inability to provide an answer. But before I could say anything else, the woman pointed a finger and said, "Just one touch to the heart."
As her finger approached Peter's chest, the Doctor and I shouted, "No!"
But it was too late. Her finger touched Peter's chest, and he died. Right in front of us. And there was nothing we could do to change that. Of course, Shakespeare had to ruin the situation by shouting, "Witch! I'm seeing a witch!"
"Now, who would be next, hmm? Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals," the witch shouted.
I opened my mouth and gasped. She intended to kill us all. And we couldn't very well ask to be let out. Everyone in the building was shouting that simultaneously. Not only that, but we had been mean to the Keeper. So I doubt he would let us out either way.
"Let us out! Let us out!" Martha cried, pressing her face against the rails.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her way whilst the Doctor said, "That's not going to work. The whole building's shouting that."
Then, the old hag shuffled forwards a few steps and croaked out, "Who will die first, hmm?"
She tilted her wrinkly head to the side, and then the Doctor, ever the idiot, said, "Well, if you're looking for volunteers," and walked forwards towards her.
Martha shouted, "No! Don't!"
"Doctor. Be careful. She has a strange power unlike any other creature. But she can be stopped. I know it..." I said to him, frowning a bit.
"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare said, clearly depending on the lonely Time Lord to save our lives.
The witch grinned in a disgusting manner and said, "No mortal has power over me."
The Doctor, ever the intelligent man, retorted with, "Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one. If I can just know you."
I quirked my eyebrow. I swear, the name was on the tip of my tongue. Opening my mouth, I attempted to form the word. But it just wouldn't come out. I'm not being figurative. I mean literally. My mouth just wasn't making a sound. I tried to say the word, but it wouldn't come out. I managed to make a, "C...Ca...Caaaaa..." sound, but that's it.
And then that old witch said, "None on Earth has knowledge of us," a little to confidently for my liking.
Luckily, the Doctor gave his beautifully quirky response and said, "Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think. Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy. Ah! Fourteen! That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!" The Doctor spun in a circle, then turned and pointed his finger at the witch whilst shouting, "Creature, I name you Carrionite!"
The Carrionite then screamed in agony, and just sort of disappeared in a puff of smoke.
I gasped, and then quickly sat down because I felt so weak. "What did you do?" Martha exclaimed, looking at where the Carrionite was.
Meanwhile, I was just crouched on the ground attempting to stand again, because I suddenly felt like I had held the weight of the world.
"I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic," I faintly heard the Doctor say.
Everything sounded so fuzzy, like someone had put earplugs in my ears. And why was the room getting darker.
"But there's... magic..." I really faintly heard Martha say.
Suddenly, a hand was shaking me, and I tried raising my head, but it just flopped. Then, really close to my ear, I heard, "Doctor!"
And then I felt two more presences. "Alex? Alex?! Alex!"
That's all I heard as my vision tunnelled and I felt myself slowly fall backwards.
My eyes opened to see the Doctor's face inches from mine, eyes closed, mouth slightly agape, hair all rugged, snoring. Lifting my head slightly, I saw Martha sitting in a chair a little ways away, reading book. Taking one more glance, I realized I was in the bed in the TARDIS, the Doctor sleeping soundly beside me. Slowly, and ever so painfully, I sat up a little bit. This caused me to groan as I was stiff and sore. Catching her attention, Martha looked up and then hurriedly shut her book, stood and walked towards me. "Alex, are you alright?"
I slowly nodded my head yes, then muttered, "What happened?"
"Well, you went unconscious so the Doctor and William brought you here. We don't actually know what happened though..." Martha said.
I shook my head a little, chuckling. "No, I meant whilst I was out? Did you defeat the Carrionites?" I questioned, smiling a little.
"What? Oh yeah. It was fun," Martha said, grinning.
And then, the good Doctor stirred. Opening his eyes lazily, he saw the both of us awake, and then shot up like a lightning bolt. "Alex!" he exclaimed. grinning, before trapping me in a massive bear hug.
"Listen, I hate to rush you, but what happened? I would like to know, seeing as you just collapsed," the Doctor said, quite rushed.
"I don't know. That's never happened before. But, there is something I would like to discuss with you. In private..." I replied, glancing at Martha before reverting my gaze back to the concerned Time Lord beside me.
Martha got the cue, gathered her book, and left the room. "What is it, Alex?" the Doctor inquired, eyes frowning in worry.
I said, "Well, every Saturday, during the night, I get this dream. It's a very strange one. Well, it was strange, but now it makes a little bit of sense since I met you. It starts out fine, I'm standing at the control panel in the TARDIS, when suddenly everything starts shaking, and then the doors open, and I'm shaken so much that I fall over, slide, and then I'm just holding onto the floor by the doors of the TARDIS to hold myself up. You're still at the panel, trying to fix things, and then, as though my mouth has a mind of it's own, I shout Doctor. Sometimes, your head turns very quickly towards me, other times I just wake up. But, I was wondering if it will happen again now that I've met you. So, I was wondering, if you could maybe perform some tests while I'm sleeping, to try and find out why I've had the same dream every Saturday since I turned 20."
The Doctor though for a few minutes, with a very hard look on his face. I could tell he was putting a lot of thought into his response. And then, suddenly, his face brightened and said "Sure! Why not? It could be interesting."
I smiled, and then, out of joy, gave him a hug. "Thanks," I whispered in his ear, and then hopped out of bed.
Walking over to the door, I heard the Doctor shift and then get up. I opened the door, walked out into the corridor, and then went to the main room of the TARDIS.
There, I saw Martha sitting on one of the chairs. Hearing me walk in, she glanced up from her book, and then seemed to remember something. Just as the Doctor walked in, Martha took something out of her pocket. "My mother's fob watch! Thanks Martha, I completely forgot about it!" I exclaimed, happy to have it with me.
"No problem. You seemed pretty attached to it." Martha said, handing it to me.
"Yeah. My mom gave it to me for my 20th. Although, we both never could find out what those symbols on the front were," I replied, a little frustrated.
"I can see why. They're so strange. But so entrancing. Let's show the Doctor! He might know!" Martha said, referring to the Time Lord who was fiddling with the TARDIS.
"Doctor!" I called, "I have something to show you!"
He quickly ran up some stairs and joined Martha and I. I then proceeded to grab his hand, place the fob watch in it(strange symbols up), and say, "We were wondering if you knew what those symbols were."
Martha and I were both bearing broad grins, but they disappeared when we noticed the Doctor was just frozen in shock. "Doctor?" I asked, getting a little concerned.
"I'm going to need to hold onto this for a bit. Just to check something. Maybe a few days. But you'll get it back soon. Don't worry," the Doctor said in one breath before running off to some strange room. We both shrugged, and then went off our own separate ways.
I'm sorry sweet little angelic readers for not updating but I am a b*tch and hate doing things, I also procrastinate a lot and am very busy. For example, I'm broke, have two Christmas gifts to buy, have to rehearse for my schools performance of Charlotte's Web, keep up with my school work AND maintain friendships, family happiness and do my chores. Then earlier(like early December and all of November) I was doing random shit, reading fanfics, studying, chores, and stuff like that. I DID go to a comic con near were I live for two days. I spent around $35 on food. Shame me, please. I walked around, watched Pocky kissing games, dressed up, fangirled every time I passed a model TARDIS, met Tom Felton, got his autograph, shook his hand…so yeah it was a busy time for me. But I am here now, that's all that matters. I would love to say I have so much planned for you guys and that my writing will be phenominiall, but then I would be lying. Because a) I'm lazy and b) I'm writing this on an iPod touch that adores crashing soooo… Luckily, I just caught a massive cold so I can write more/strong... strongAlthough whenever I move I get a mini headache added to my big one, feel tingles on my body and experience pain/strong. strongBut aside from that, I'm good/strong. strongAnd my laptop died so I had to wait like three weeks for the information to be removed(we didn't know how before then) BUT THEN I GOT A MACBOOK AIR! So really, all my excuses are lame and this shall never happen again(the long list of apologies, not the very long time to update...) And, I shall try and update soon. I already have some other things to do before(update my other story and make major rewrites to smaller stories on Quotev... maybe even Wattpad... but I shall be working on this after that. Shouldn't take too long.) Love you!