Chapter 10
Ciel stumbled out of the TARDIS, somewhat shaky after the landing; he would never get used to that thing, and hoped that he never had reason to. Sebastian smirked and strode calmly and smoothly after him, seeming to silently mock his master's fragility. The Doctor and Ankara had rushed ahead of them, jumping out of the ship as soon as it returned to its place in front of the stairs of the Phantomhive manor. Ciel's servants ran into the room, asking loudly about where they had gone and how the blue box had gotten back inside when Bardroy was certain he'd locked the door. They were sent scurrying about on their usual business with a quick glare from Sebastian.
"Alright, I have to use the power of the TARDIS to reverse the rip in space to send the Daleks and that angel into the void, and close it after. I'll have to do some meddling with the wires in the TARDIS..." the Doctor said loudly, drumming his fingers on the side of the blue box as he spoke.
"What do you need us to do?" Ankara asked curiously.
"At the moment, nothing. I'm not going to have this done by the time the Daleks start attacking, so there will probably be people killed. I'm going to need you and Sebastian to keep them out of the mansion while I work. You might be able to enlist the servants and the Hell hound to help as well." the Doctor replied quickly.
"Is there nothing we can do now to help?" Ankara asked, looking as if she was too anxious not to do something.
The Doctor looked at her for a moment, then sighed.
"Alright. Come and help me with these wires for a few hours. It might make things a little faster if I have an assistant." he walked briskly into the TARDIS, Ankara on his heels.
Sebastian watched as the female passed him and closed the TARDIS door, and a slight frown crossed his lips. Ciel smirked at him.
"So, who will you be defending more closely tomorrow, me or her?" he taunted.
Sebastian turned sharply to shoot him a quick, almost imperceptible glare.
"You, my lord. Of course you. That is the deal stated in our contract, is it not?" he said smoothly.
"Indeed it is, Sebastian." Ciel replied just as smoothly.
"My lord, I suggest you remain in the basement for the duration of the fighting tomorrow. For your safety."
Ciel glared at him.
"That isn't the only reason you want me out of sight. What else, Sebastian?" he asked accusingly.
"You are rather useless in a fight, my lord. You would get in the way and drag me down, thus limiting my ability to protect both you and Miss Ankara. The Doctor should be fine in that blue box of his. Perhaps you should stay in there with him instead of the basement tomorrow. I will have to talk to him about it." the demon butler said plainly, having no issues with insulting his master.
"You will have to do so later. Right now, I want to eat and get some paperwork done before bed. Come on." Ciel started up the stairs to his office.
Sebastian cast one more quick glance at the TARDIS before following dutifully.
Inside the TARDIS, Ankara was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to where the Doctor was working. The Time Lord had popped up a section of the floor, and was standing in a small space below fiddling with some wires and strange sheets of metal with buttons all over them. The Doctor mumbled to himself as he worked, handing pieces of wire and metal up to Ankara as he pulled them from their places.
"Doctor, do you always travel alone?" Ankara asked after a little while, growing uncomfortable in the silence.
The Doctor sighed softly and continued working as he spoke.
"No, sometimes I have...friends on board. I had one with me recently, for a little while. But she's gone now." he said quickly.
"Where is she now?" Ankara asked, curious.
"She's with her family. Well, sort of. It's hard to explain."
"We have plenty of time, and I'll do my best to understand."
The Doctor looked up at her curiously before sighing and nodding.
"Fine. My friend's name was Rose Tyler. She traveled with me for a while, and one day we were back in her time period, investigating strange surges of ghosts showing up during scheduled times of the day. We ended up getting captured by Torchwood." the Doctor began slowly, keeping most of his concentration on his work.
"What's Torchwood?"
"They're a group commissioned by the Queen, Queen Victoria to be specific, to investigate and defend against aliens."
"Like you?"
"Like me? I was the first one! In fact, I'm listed as an enemy to the crown."
"Probably best if you don't tell Ciel about that. You'd have the Queen's Guard Dog after you."
The Doctor cracked a smile.
"Right. So, Rose and I are at the Torchwood building, when it turns out that the ghosts aren't ghosts. They're Cybermen, emotionless robots fitted with human brains." he explained.
"Sounds like that Shinigami William..." Ankara muttered, eliciting a chuckle from the Doctor.
"Cybermen are much worse than any overworked Shinigami could be. They're programmed to upgrade humans to become one of them. If a human cannot be upgraded, the get deleted." he replied.
"So what happened?" Ankara asked, enthralled by the Doctor's story.
"It got worse. Daleks showed up, and started fighting the Cybermen. Then they opened an old Time Lord prison ship, releasing millions of Daleks in London. I had to do the same thing I'm doing now to solve the problem; suck them back into the void the Cybermen created to get to our universe."
"So, what happened to Rose?"
The Doctor paused, his expression pained.
"When the void was imploding, Rose slipped and almost got sucked in. Luckily she was saved, and taken to a parallel universe with her mother, father, and boyfriend. I can't travel there to see her. We'll never meet again." he said sadly.
Ankara sighed and looked at the ground awkwardly, not sure how to reply. The Doctor noticed and gave a small, weary smile before nudging her.
"Come on, we've got work to do. Pass me that blue piece of wire." he said, his cheery smile back on his face.
Ankara smiled and handed it to him.
"Are you sure you can get this done before the Daleks and Remiel kill destroy time?" she asked as the Doctor wedged the piece of wire into a split in a piece of metal.
The Doctor gave her a quick grin.
"Yeah. You see...I am merely on Hell of a Doctor."
You guys have to IDEA how long I've been waiting for a good time to use that line! Oh, finally! So, next chapter, the final fight begins! See you then! Allons-y!