Well, here we are again, everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Although the first five chapters were mostly fluff, I admit, this chapter is bound to be much more exciting... Stuff's gonna happen! Anyway, please read and review, and GERONIMO! :)
Disclaimer: I still do not own "Doctor Who," the characters of the Doctor, Amy, or Rory, or the TARDIS, or the sonic screwdriver, or...
The "something cool" turned out to be... wait for it... on the other side of the universe. So I figured that it would take a little while to get there once the Doctor had finished plotting in the coordinates to wherever-it-was. The TARDIS shuddered, making a loud roaring noise, and I could feel us turn slightly.
"You may want to -" the Doctor began, but his words were cut off as we banked slightly and then went into what felt like a free fall. A free fall with... twists. With a small yelp I clung to a nearby railing, my eyes widening as the TARDIS seemed to crash on faster and faster.
"Super sonic space travel!" the Doctor cried over the roar and whine of the engines, "Nothing like it! Ha Ha!" He whooped, grinning hugely. I had attached myself as firmly as possible to the railing but felt my grip slowly slipping with each passing jolt and shudder of the TARDIS. There were a couple of seconds where the ride smoothed out a little, deceptively so, and I made the unfortunate mistake of letting my fingers slacken a bit. I quickly regretted this a moment later when the sky seemed to drop out from beneath us and we tumbled downwards. Losing my hold completely, I found myself careening across the console area with a stifled yell, holding my arms out to stop myself.
Before I could meet with the opposite wall, however, I was saved from a certain painful death by a long arm that seemed to shoot out of nowhere. The Doctor scooped me back to his side of the railing, laughing, his lanky arm wrapped securely around my waist to keep me from falling. I had no choice but to hang on to the front of his jacket, praying that we didn't both go flying. Another jolt later (one which bent me over backwards with the Doctor still hanging on, my weight pulling him into a sort of awkward crouched position), the TARDIS came to an abrupt halt. The Doctor's mop of hair was nearly touching my forehead, and I'm sure that one of my legs was wrapped around his ankle in what was sure to be a compromising position.
"What the bloody hell..." came Amy's voice from the hallway. She and Rory stumbled into the control room, still in their night clothes, just in time to see me half-bent to the floor with the Doctor clinging to my waist and hunched over me like we were in the midst of some odd tango move. Amy and Rory stopped abruptly, their mouths opening slightly at the sight of us. I blushed furiously, hastily attempting to pull myself upright and to straighten my bathrobe, which was now in some... disarray. The Doctor, however, seemed rather oblivious, big surprise, Hero, and he neatly pulled me to my feet like a ballerina and grinned at the other two humans.
"Ah!" he cried, reaching up a hand to straighten his bow tie, which was askew, "We've arrived!"
"Well, you should let us get dressed first," Amy retorted in a rather grumpy voice. I would find out later that she and Rory had been rather rudely awakened by finding themselves not in their comfy bed (like they would expect during a normal night's sleep) but rather squashed onto the floor with all the blankets on top of them.
"Right!Sorry..." the Doctor replied, waving Amy and Rory away, "See you in a moment, then..."
They trotted back the way they had come, Rory yawning hugely.
"Um, I'll just go... change..." I mumbled, taking a step towards where I remembered my bedroom to be and finding myself unable to move. The Doctor's arm was still around my waist.
"Oh, um..." I managed, feeling my face burn.
He looked puzzled for a moment, then comically looked down at his own arm, like he had forgotten where he had left it. His eyes widened and he quickly removed himself from me, stepping back, clearing his throat.
"Ah! Erm, sorry," he said, a bit flustered, "forgot... Glad you didn't take a tumble..." He smiled awkwardly at me, and I waved him off, trying to look casual.
"'S okay," I answered, trying not to look down at my feet, "I'll just go change then, hmm?" He nodded, his eyes looking a bit preoccupied, smiling politely like he was now clearly thinking of something else. I hurried away as quickly as I could without (I hoped) looking like I was running or anything. My heart was skittering all over the place, something it didn't do very often.
Hero? Seriously. Act your age!
Why does he make it so hard?
A few moments later, Amy and Rory and I had reconvened in the control room. The Doctor had remained where he was, closely examining a television screen.
"Alright, then, what's this all about?" Amy barked, apparently still a bit put off at being tossed out of bed in the middle of the night. Though, to be fair, who really knows what time it actually is...
"Well," the doctor began, rubbing his hands together eagerly, "an old friend of mine... a very old friend... is in a bit of trouble. Apparently, his people have been disappearing, and he suspects... Well, he needs a Doctor to sort it all out," He smiled broadly, pleased with himself.
"His people?" Rory asked.
"Yes, well, he's a bit of a king... sort of thing..." The Doctor cleared his throat as if he didn't think it was his place to be more specific.
Suppressing a reluctant smile, Amy sighed and said, "Alright, you win, so are we there? At his... kingdom? Planet thing?"
The Doctor nodded, spinning in a circle to face the door, "Lardis Prime, fifth planet from a very interesting star..." He moved off towards the TARDIS doors, continuing to chatter, but I lost track of what he was saying as I caught Amy's eye. She smirked, shrugged, then shuffled off after the Time Lord. I stifled a giggle and Rory coughed loudly as we followed her out of the TARDIS.
We stepped out into a darkened cave.
"Hmm..." the Doctor commented, taking out his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and taking a reading. He flipped it open, scanning the results with his eyes. After a moment, he frowned, staring at the readings.
"A bit... quiet around here, yeah?" Amy whispered, staying rather close to Rory. I peered out into the darkness, trying to see past the light coming from the TARDIS door, but there was really nothing to see except fading blackness. Puzzled, I was just about to say something when the Doctor shushed us.
"But we're not making any noise!"Amy whispered, appalled, but was quickly cut off as Rory placed a hand over her mouth, his eyes widening.
I realized that both the Doctor and Rory were aware of something, a sound, and I strained my ears in an attempt to pick anything up. After a moment, I realized that there was a deep sort of thrumming somewhere, almost a movement more than a sound, coming from the blackness around us. We stood frozen, our eyes darting back and forth from one to another, listening to the faint, deep sound.
"DOCTOR..."
We all jumped visibly as a loud, metallic voice crashed onto our ears from directly overhead.
"YOU'RE SLIGHTLY LATE, DOCTOR," the voice continued, and the Doctor quickly scanned the air again with his sonic screwdriver. He looked bewildered at the results and drew near us, leaning in and whispering in the softest voice possible,
"We should leave... now..."
We all nodded vigorously, and the Doctor gestured that I go in first. I began to slowly back towards the TARDIS doors, trying to look inconspicuous, when without warning a beam of blue-white light appeared just over the doctor, illuminating him. Alarmed, Amy dashed towards the Time Lord and as soon as her fingertips brushed against the light she was thrown back onto the ground. She cried out, landing hard on her back and quickly scrambling up again as Rory rushed to her.
"Wait!" the Doctor cried, looking around wildly. The sonic screwdriver was still clutched in his hand, his free hand feeling around what I now realized was some sort of force field. "What do you want?" he continued, still feeling around for an escape route.
"IT'S SIMPLE, REALLY, TIME LORD," the weird mechanical voice boomed, and there was a strange rushing sound somewhere overhead, "CENTERIES AGO YOU TOOK US FROM OUR NATURAL HOME. WE WERE ALONE, TRAPPED ON AN ALIEN WORLD. YOU DID THIS TO US. NOW WE MUST FEED OFF THE PEOPLE OF OTHER RACES TO SURVIVE. WE ARE STILL ALONE. YOU WILL LEARN, DOCTOR, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ALONE."
Amy, Rory, and I watched in horror as the light surrounding the Doctor began to throb and brighten. He looked out at us helplessly, calling, "It's going to be alright, just... try to get away! You have to run, you hear me?" Amy shook her head at him, fighting tears. Rory seemed to be holding her back to keep her from rushing at the light prison again. The light surrounding the Doctor was now so bright it nearly obscured him, but I could still see his face as he turned from Amy and Rory over to me. I stood frozen against the TARDIS, unable to process what was happening. The rushing sound overhead had grown to a roar, and I saw the Doctor mouth "Hero," his eyes wide and pleading. I reached towards him from where I stood, crying out his name, and then his face was completely obscured from view. All three of us hastily shut our eyes and flinched away as the light exploded towards us with a thunderous roar.
And then there was complete, utter silence.
And darkness.
The sonic screwdriver lay upon the ground, faintly illuminated by the lights inside the TARDIS. The ground around it was smoking slightly.
The Doctor had vanished along with the light.