It's Just a Scratch
by
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx

OoOoOoOoOoO

Thanksies to JForward, Cute Gallifreyan, Emela, AscendingWithTyler, Shrink To Be, Dagniro Vanaliel, Spockette, Syreene, Tai Greywing and AvitarGirl!

OoOoOoOoOoO

6.

Martha's first impression of the planet Minuisa was almost none-existent, for it appeared at first glance to be nothing but darkness.

Complete and utter blackness.

Straining her eyes against the gloom as they adjusted after the dim-yet-visible lights of the Console Room, Martha reached out a tentative hand and stepped over the threshold, making room for the Doctor to stumble out after her.

There was a soft chirruping sound from somewhere to her right, and the occasional gust of wind whipped at her face, its icy cold breath harsh and stinging against her exposed skin.

Even as she listened, it soon became apparent to her that, despite the darkness, the entire planet was humming. While sight had eluded her, her ears were working overtime in compensation.

The rustle of leaves and the calls of native birds were the accompaniments to a terrestrial orchestra of sounds, as strange but stunning purrs fluttered into her ears.

The song was soothing.

She found it hard to believe that a planet could be singing, but she could think of no other way of describing the beautiful sound whilst still doing it justice. She could feel it pulsing beneath her skin, melding its way into her very soul as she listened, ears strained, shivers rocketing up her spine like fireworks…

But her moment of peace and solitude was irritatingly disturbed by a loud crunch from somewhere beside her.

The Doctor had apparently been engulfed by the darkness while she was distracted by the strange sounds of this new and exciting place, but his lack of knowledge when it came down to 'keeping a low profile' was all she needed to be able to figure out where he was.

As another crunch, rather like the snapping of a small twig, broke the planet's ethereal melody, she jumped a little, the sound feeling unnatural amidst Minuisa's symphonic magnificence. Looking up, she focussed on finding the creator of the abnormal sounds, and soon found herself clutching onto the Doctor's arm as she located him, aware that her own snapping twigs were now adding to his, the sounds seeming coarse and jarring when compared to the tonal loveliness of the planet's own music.

Almost as if it knew it had company.

"So," she whispered as softly as she could whilst still making herself heard over the sounds of Minuisian nature. Glancing sideways at the vague outline of her friend, she was troubled by his glowing eyes but remained silent upon the matter regardless. She could feel him shivering through her own clothes, and her heart melted.

"What?" he croaked back, not sparing her even the slightest of glances, knowing full well that her life could well depend on it.

'She is not food. She is not food. She is not … what was I saying again?'

Martha's voice interrupted his mental berating and he restrained a jump with great difficulty.

"What does this 'final ingredient' look like? Is it a plant, or an animal? Water? Strange fire? Earth, soil, gravel, stone, bone?"

The Doctor paused, frowning, his stinging eyes scanning the dimly lit landscape with ease, thanks to his altered eye-sight.

There was, at this particular moment in time, - since this entire ordeal had begun - only one upside to his condition that he could honestly say he was glad for – he could see in the dark.

Whoop-de-freakin'-doo.

The Doctor looked up in time to see her staring intently at him, even though he was sure she could barely see him at all through the gloom. But why ...?

Oh right, she'd just asked him a question, and was now waiting for his response.

So, perhaps he needed to answer her.

"Erm …"

But he fell silent, skin paling alarmingly beneath its thin sheen of sweat.

"Oh no," she murmured, slapping a hand against her forehead and rubbing disbelievingly at her eyes. "Doctor … please tell me you do know what you're looking for," she begged of him, hardly daring to glance his way as she imagined his head shaking solemnly and his wide eyes staring apologetically at her, before her world was plunged into blackness by the sting of sharp fangs sinking into her neck …

"Um, yes and no."

His voice was scratchy and Martha felt her grip on his arm strengthen considerably as its power willed her ever closer to him. He winced as her nails dug into his skin, but bit back the remark for fear she'd be jumping into his lap if he continued talking like that.

"What does that mean?" she demanded, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The Doctor shrugged, grimacing.

"Not sure," he admitted, struggling to keep his eyes on the barely noticeable path ahead of them. The thin footpath seemed to twist on forever, weaving through tall and towering trees and shrubs of varying shapes and sizes as it moulded its way into the surrounding landscapes almost indistinguishably.

Even now, Martha could see nothing. She could smell, though.

The occasional whiff of earth caught in her nostrils, along with the odd perfumed scent of some bizarre and completely alien plant or other.

And she could hear. There was no shortage of sounds, in this place.

But she couldn't see a damn thing.

And if the Doctor hadn't had night vision, she realised, this trip would have been nye on impossible.

"Well how am I supposed to help you find it when I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for?" she asked heatedly, frustrated but clearly attempting to hide it.

The last thing she wanted to do right now was piss him off.

For it could well be the last thing she ever did.

The Doctor half-smiled, trying to concentrate more on the route than on her as he finally took heed of just how close she was to him.

Of just how soft her hands were as they clutched to the sleeves of his blood-stained trench coat.

Of just how delicious her own blood smelt from such a close proximity.

Of just how much more delicious it would taste, trickling drop after drop down his aching throat…

"Doctor?"

Wincing against the realisation that he was losing it big time, he cleared said throat and sighed.

"Erm, sorry. What were we …? Oh right, 'what is it?' Well, it's a … it's…"

Oh, God.

What was it ?!

Martha felt a hand fly to her head and she slapped it lightly before squeezing her eyes shut in despair and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Their footsteps and the consequent snapping of twigs was soon silenced as both fell into motionless muteness.

"You'd better think fast, Doctor," she murmured, shaking her head in desolation.

The Doctor clutched at his hair slightly, biting his tongue against the hunger that was gnawing away at his insides. Hell even his hunger was hungry!

Eyes wide and alert, he let them glide easily over the blackness surrounding them, feeling slightly more comfortable under the cloak of darkness than he had back in the lightness of the TARDIS.

Wait, the TARDIS …

What had he been doing in there again?

… …

Making something. Something that needed something else that he was now supposed to be looking for …

"Martha, what was I doing before?" he whispered, straining his memory for even the tiniest of details.

Martha felt her mouth drop open in horror.

"You mean you can't even remember that?"

As his silence stretched, Martha was beginning to feel more and more hopeless by the second.

Oh.

This was so, so not good.

The Doctor's scarlet eyes were wide, their stare searching and urgent as he struggled to cling onto his memories, the ones that were slowly being consumed by his desire for food.

If he could just remember what he'd been doing before …

"Right, enough of this," Martha murmured, relinquishing her grip on his arm and feeling her way into his line of vision instead, standing directly in front of him with her hands secured to his shoulders this time, her eyes wide and daring him to ignore her words.

"You," she stressed, putting as much emphasis and clarity behind the speech as possible, "are the Doctor. You're a Time Lord and you come from a planet called Gallifrey. You were working on an antidote that will change you back into yourself after being scratched by a vampire. Remember that?"

Hell, the proof was right there, glistening like red paint against the whiteness of his neck.

Yet it appeared he didn't remember it.

Martha was damn near close to screaming in frustration, but her cry was eaten seconds later as she spotted the lust-filled glare that she was receiving from the Doctor as he stood stock-still, shivering beneath her fingertips, his eyes riveted to her neck.

"Oh no you don't," she murmured, digging her nails into his shoulders hard enough for him to wince and duck out of her grasp.

"Hey!" he snapped, irritated. "What was that for?"

Martha's sigh of relief was internal. She felt her hard glare soften a little as she spotted his questioning stare.

The eyes may not have been completely his, but the sparkle of life within their swirling scarlet depths definitely was.

So he was alright … for now.

"Oh nothing," she said cheerfully. "Just you going all psycho hungry on me. I thought it best to remind you that I'm not lunch, just in case you were getting ideas."

And it had certainly looked like he was, she admitted to herself fearfully.

Sighing heavily, he half-nodded, turning away from her and staring resolutely off into the distance.

"Right. Sorry. What were you saying?"

Martha really did scream with frustration, that time.

The sound pierced the air with enough force to send the few nesting foreign birds flying south in terror, their screeching cries almost lost amidst her own yell of annoyance.

Well, that was until the Doctor jumped forwards and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Sshhh!" he hissed in her ear, glaring over her shoulder as the darkness intensified.

Martha raised an eyebrow as he relinquished his grasp, holding her shoulder instead as he continued to stare over the top of it.

"What was that for?" Martha murmured back, eyes narrowed.

"I'd rather we didn't draw attention to ourselves, if it's all the same to you, Martha. There's a creature living on this planet that I'd rather avoid an encounter with, particularly when I'm in this state."

"Wait, you remember?" she asked, completely ignoring his words after losing concentration at the sound of her name, blessed hope returning in a heart-beat with enough force to make her giddy with overwhelming delight.

Mouth clamped shut, he nodded and motioned her closer, his eyes never wavering from whatever it was that he'd taken to glaring at.

Martha obeyed, distractedly wondering how much of her reaction was down to her own free will and how much was thanks to his hypnotic pull.

Deciding after a few moments that she didn't really want to know, she turned slightly in his half-embrace and strained her eyes against the encroaching blackness.

'Curse my human eyes,' she thought, exasperated.

"What d'you see?" she asked softly, hoping the quiver of fear she felt didn't make it into the words that emerged.

"Nothing yet," he admitted, keeping his tones low. "And I'm hoping we can keep it that way." Blinking and turning to her at last, he responded to her earlier question with hushed but hurried urgency, fearing his exhausted mind could slip again at any minute.

"Right, we're looking for a plant," he told her, staring intently at her and hoping she wasn't going to need him to ask twice. "It's not big, and its flowers are quite mundane when compared with some of its fellows, but it's the leaves we need. They have a chemical inside that's a necessity if we want the antidote to work correctly."

Martha rolled her eyes.

"Well that's all well and good, Doctor," she started, trying to keep the patronising tones to a bare minimum, "but I can put my finger on two tiny problems. One is the fact that we're surrounded by plants with mundane flowers - granted some are massive but others aren't so lacking in space. And two is the fact that I can't see a bloody thing!"

"Ah."

Martha snorted derisively, feeling her frustration peak.

"Yes," the Doctor murmured, running a hand through his unruly locks and jamming his eyes shut. "Yes, that is a problem."

He straightened up, frowning, his hand dropping to his side and his mouth open a little as he clicked his tongue, deep in thought.

Martha was suddenly uncomfortably aware of just how sharp and long those fangs were suddenly looking…

"Well," he said, breaking the silence at last. "The first problem shouldn't really be a problem if I can keep myself in line until we get there. See, I know where it is… well, the Time Lord half of me does. I can't really explain how it looks properly because it looks … well, normal. Just an ordinary plant with long, spiky leaves and the occasional black or white bud every now and again. Think 'aloe vera'," he added with reference to the shape of the leaves, and Martha restrained a small smile. It didn't last very long though. "It grows in the outskirts of Minuisa's largest forest," he went on, wildly gesturing around with a white hand to indicate their location, grimacing in pain but letting not a sound of his discomfort escape him, "and at this time of the night it's most probably doused in moonlight. It likes moonlight for some reason."

"But where's the moon?" Martha asked, raising her eyes skywards, only to wish she hadn't bothered. For there was nothing but blackness.

Blackness from top to bottom.

Curse this stupid planet.

"Oh, we're under heavy canopy, here," the Doctor replied, voice scratchy but, so far still pretty much 80 per cent Doctor. Much to his wavering delight. "So the plant we're looking for should be fairly easy to find because once we find a clearing that allows moonlight to filter through into it, we're pretty much in the right place, and thus, laughing, as it were."

Pausing, he rubbed a hand over his aching eyes and sighed heavily. With an apprehensive glance in Martha's direction, he added, "and as for the second problem…"

But fell silent, leaving it hanging, shaking his head a little.

"You wouldn't happen to have a pair of night-vision glasses on you, by any chance?" Martha asked hopefully, sensing his discomfort. He was going to lose it again. She could feel it. "I mean, you carry a toothbrush around with you!"

The Doctor shook his head.

"All I can do is give you the Sonic and let you use its light as a torch. I mean, once we get to where we're headed, the moonlight should be source enough, but it's getting there that's gonna be the problem."

Martha nodded eagerly, seeing his eyes beginning to glaze over.

"Yeah, brilliant idea," she said quickly, slapping him hard on the shoulder. "You're full of those, aren't you?"

"Full of … what?" he asked, eyes scrunched up and fangs biting into his lip.

"Brilliant ideas," she clarified, squeezing his shoulder with as much force as she could muster. "So, the Sonic, then?" she reminded him, wondering if he could even remember what it was.

With sluggish movements he half-nodded, eyes still glued shut, and reached into an internal pocket with trembling fingers that seemed impossibly long all of a sudden. Even amidst the darkness, she could make out the gleaming points of ten, sharpened nails before they vanished into the black depths of one of the Doctor's many pockets.

They emerged a moment later clutching the Sonic gingerly, the metal tube chattering slightly as his claw-like nails trembled against it.

Martha, sensing his turmoil, snatched it from him before he could realise the damage he could do if he used it properly.

"Thanks," she said briskly, flicking a switch up and pressing the button.

Much to her undisguised horror, the Doctor hissed and backed away as the blue light flared into existence.

"So, which way and how far?" she asked, hoping to distract him from his sudden fears of unnatural light and hoping he could remember that much, at least.

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded forwards, eyes seeming wilder and brighter as the eerie, pulsing light form the Sonic's azure tip illuminated their pain-racked depths.

"'Bout a mile," he muttered, the tones hauntingly familiar.

Martha planted her feet firmly into the ground and clenched her fist around the Sonic's cool handle, willing the call to pass right over her head.

Feeling silence might be the best option while he struggled with himself, she waited, feeling her heart pounding beneath her chest as her fingers became numb from the strength of her grip.

After what felt like an age, the Doctor cleared his throat again and motioned her silently forwards.

Martha's breath of relief never escaped her as she followed silently in his wake, the light casting creepy shadows against the path around her, and her eyes riveted to the Doctor's trembling form as she followed a few paces behind, silently praying to God that they could find this thing before it was too late.

So consumed were they by their internal battles, that neither the Doctor nor Martha noticed a pair of red eyes blink into existence, the rustle of a small bush a few paces behind them breaking the now fallen silence like a gunshot, before they too vanished from sight, devoured at last by the invading blackness.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hmm, there's something a creepin' around the corner. Wonder if the Doctor and Martha can find the strange and as-of-yet unnamed plant designated 'the Final Ingredient' before it finds them …

Tune in next time to find out! (Grins)
Oh, and reviews are shiny! I like shiny things! See a pattern, here? (Wink)

Blessed Be!

Hugs,
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx