The Greeks had their many gods, from Apollo to Zeus; the Romans had the gods as well, just renamed. There's Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so many other religions the girl couldn't count them with two hands. Most of them have a god, or many gods, or a central figure that helps and bestow guidance. They have a goal, a reason for living, to serve or emulate their god or to find a certain way to live.
Religion had always fascinated the girl. So many people believing one key concept, but still, there were millions of interpretations. And some religions sprang from one central one, but they believed such different things. The girl didn't have one to call her own; she never had. She just believed in one thing.
The man who stole her away in his big blue police telephone box.
"Rachel, I know you said no more forests, but how about a jungle?" The Doctor turned to me and smiled. I rolled my eyes. But the Doctor looked so hopeful.
"Well, I guess that is a different type of tree and animal population." I smiled over at him. He looked so excited I had to laugh. "Just let me go change." I hopped off my chair and made my way to my room. I took off my sleep clothes and pulled my sweater over my head. My jeans slid over my skin as I stepped into my shoes and buckled them. Taking my ring and bracelet, I walked out of my room to see the Doctor standing with goggles in his hands. They looked like the ones he used to fix the underside of the TARDIS controls.
"You'll need to wear these." He held them out to me. I grabbed one of the pairs and put them on my head. "Come on; let me see how you look." He smiled as I pulled them over my eyes. Everything seemed to be tinted green. The Doctor let out a laugh.
"Do I look like a dork?" I turned to try and find a mirror so I could make sure my hair looked alright with the goggles on.
"You look fine." I turned back to the Doctor. He had just put his goggles on. "Now let's go." He held out his hand and we ventured outside.
The air was hot and humid; like someone had covered everything with a warm wet blanket. The Doctor and I looked at the vines and the foliage before us. It was almost like a complete wall of green.
"After you," I gestured for the Doctor to go first. He looked back at me with a grimace of disgust and uncertainty. I sighed and rolled my eyes as he took two steps forward towards the trees, then came back to stand next to me.
"Maybe we should go together." He crossed his arms and tried to play himself off as cool. I took the initiative to walk into the jungle first. There was the hissing of a distant snake, the cawing of tropical birds, and a ton of other sounds associated with a tropical jungle. "This reminds me a little too much of the Rainforest Café." I turned around to look at the Doctor. I had to wait for him to stumble into my line of sight. He was following me at a decent pace, but he was also tripping and stumbling over every bump, twig, and root on the ground. "I think I'm getting better at this whole walking thing while you're getting worse." I smiled at the Doctor. He came to stand in front of me and huffed.
"I know I'm clever and more experienced with this stuff, but you try walking through this with the wrong colored lenses in your goggles." He stuck out his tongue and fell to lean on a close by tree, but completely missed and landed on his back on the floor. I tried not to laugh. Instead, I squatted down in front of him and smiled.
"Close your eyes, Doctor." I reached out grabbing the Doctor's goggles and closed my eyes and ripped off my eye gear. I put mine on his face and secured them. Before I could put his on my face, the Doctor spoke.
"Rachel, what are you doing?" I lost my balance for a second. My arms reached out and grabbed the nearest thing to keep my balance. "Hurry and put your goggles back on." The Doctor seemed a bit stressed. If I could, I would have rolled my eyes.
I didn't have time before the Doctor grabbed my hand and we were running. I tried to catch my breath as we stopped.
"Doctor what were we running from?" My hands clutched my knees as I bent over trying to breathe. As my knees connected to my hands I realized, I had dropped my goggles as we were running. "Doctor, what would happen if I dropped my goggles as we were running?" There was crunching on the ground. Of course I hadn't opened my eyes yet. I figured my eyeballs would melt if I did.
"Well you'll most likely go blind." I could hear him starting to get angry. He didn't like being so out of control of a situation. He liked things to go the way he liked them to go. And I could hear his concern in his voice.
"Right well we'll just have to go back to the TARDIS and get me another pair." I smiled though I didn't know if it was directed at the Doctor or not. I took a step forward and felt the Doctor pulling me back.
"Not that way. The giant snake is that way."
"Well which should I go then?" I waited for the Doctor to respond but heard nothing. "Doctor?" I waited again for his response. I walked forward in the direction he had pulled me. "This isn't funny Doctor." My foot nudged something on the floor. I slowly sank to my knees to feel out in front of me. I picked up the object with a sigh of relief. They were goggles. I leaned back on my knees and put the goggles on.
Opening my eyes I saw the jungle before me. But there was no Doctor. Or at least, I didn't think he was there. These goggles gave a weird brown tint to everything and there was nothing to contrast, except a few shadows.
"Doctor?" I took a stumbling step forward. Nothing answered my call. "Are you freaking kidding me? What the hell?" I kicked at the ground. The Time Lord had vanished when I needed him. Of all the things he could have done. I was about to scream at the sky when a piece of white caught my attention. It was pinned to a tree with a knife. Pulling out the knife I took the paper and read it.
"If you want your friend back alive follow the snake trail. Perhaps we can make an arrangement."
I sighed and tilted my head to the sky. At least I could see and had goggles now, however crappy they were. I still had to figure out a way to get the Doctor back. And I was doing no good just standing around waiting for him to magically appear in front of me. I looked at the ground and realized I was standing in the snake trail that would take me to the Doctor.
Figuring everything would be easy enough I started to walk, trying not to trip.
The trail was long and I walked for what probably constituted as a few hours. By the time I got the wall of jungle plants and the end of the trail I really had no idea where I was.
I reached out to touch the wall before me and pulled away a few leaves to see what was happening beyond where the trail ended. There was a clearing on the other side where a little band village was set up. It looked like a tribe of some sort but I didn't see anyone around.
The Doctor was tied against a lone tree in the middle of the clearing. He didn't see me but he looked all in one piece.
That was when I felt the jab at my back. My body froze as I turned slowly.
Behind me were maybe ten tribal people. Women wearing furs and had large animal skulls, most likely replicas, over their faces. All of them were pointing their spears at me.
They spoke to each other. I couldn't really understand their hushed whispers. But before I knew what was happening, I was taken into the clearing. I could see around the small village as I was taken to its heart where the Doctor stood. I noticed a few males of the tribe around cooking and caring for children.
The women stopped and surrounded me, spears pointed at my neck. There was no way I could move, unless I wanted a beautiful necklace of my own blood.
"Don't hurt her." I looked at the Doctor. He looked a concerned for me but I knew there was something else that he was thinking about. But one of the women walked over to him and jabbed him in the ribs with the blunt end of her spear.
"Silence." I looked at the woman who had spoken. "Or you feed Juju."
"Who is Juju?" It might have been my imagination, but I thought that the spears lowered a bit and the women holding them were more relaxed.
"Juju is snake and great protector of our god, Vergil." She gestured to a large golden statue with inlaid jewels and the giant snake that was coiled before it. I took a wild guess and assumed that was Juju, the snake that had taken the Doctor.
"So is that your god?" I gestured to the statue. Everyone in the village laughed. I nervously chuckled along with them.
"No that is his idol. Have you not seen a god before? Vergil comes to command us and will come soon." The woman spoke and I just sort of stood in my place though the women had lowered their weapons. Apparently they knew I wouldn't run without the Doctor.
There was the rustling of some bushes behind the statue. My attention focused on the rustling and a man emerged from the greenery. Each and every member of the village immediately was down on the ground. But to me the man they called a god was just that, a man.
"And who are you then?" I crossed my arms. The man stepped forward, patting the snake on the head as he passed. On top of his head, the man had a full head of prematurely grey hair. He was wearing exploring clothes, like the ones you see in movies. And he was wearing goggles just like me and the Doctor. The man chuckled and walked to sit on a large throne I hadn't noticed at the side of the statue.
"My name's Vergil Tuppington the III." He sank into the chair and watched me for my reaction. I didn't really have one and he looked slightly perturbed by that. I rolled my eyes and went to stand in front of him. The members of the tribe were still on the ground. Foreheads, firmly pressed to the dirt.
"So you're the god then." I put my weight on my left foot and examined the man before me. I didn't see how he could be a god. Then I looked back at the statue made of gold and jewels. He did look like it in a way; in an old fashioned disproportionate tribal way. But if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head to the side you could see it.
"Rachel, don't engage him in conversation." The Doctor was turned towards me. I looked back at him and we had a small conversation through facial expressions. Eventually the facial argument ended with me winning. The Doctor looked exasperated. "Really, you don't want to engage with him."
"I'm Vergil." The man smiled as if he was friendly when he obviously wasn't. And I noticed his glance towards the Doctor. "And I am their god." I rolled my eyes.
"So what do you want with me and my friend?" I walked closer to the man on the throne. He crossed his arms and examined me as if I was a specimen on a Petri dish. I suppressed a visible cringe.
"Well your friend will most likely be eaten by Juju, my snake. Isn't it brilliant? You, my glorious, will be my queen and we shall rule this world through space and time." He leered at me and I had to work at keeping the contents of my stomach from making a revolting appearance. Though I did scoff and back up a step.
"Be your queen? Really? Why would I do that?" My arms crossed furiously across my chest. His queen? Who did he think I was?
"You're a beautiful lady. And I need a queen, so consent and all will be well." He gestured with his hand and Juju uncoiled and slithered closer to the Doctor. I looked over and walked back a bit to stand between the snake and the Doctor.
"Well you haven't really made my whole consenting to be your queen worthwhile." Really, I was just trying to protect the Doctor from the threat of Juju. "You're not going to coerce me like this. If you want me to be your queen, why not try acting like a gentleman?" I was glaring at Vergil and the snake. Trying to keep an eye on both, but not wanting to let my guard down on either front.
"Well," Vergil stroked his chin. "I guess your boyfriend doesn't have to die." I stifled the laugh that bubbled in my throat.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Vergil but my friend is married to someone else. We're just traveling together. He's one of my best friends." I smiled over at Vergil, feeling victorious in a way. He seemed perplexed by what I said but didn't argue. "So you can let him go now." One of the women stood and cut the Doctor's binding, but held him there. I watched as Vergil thought. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about this situation.
"Well if he is just a friend, you won't need him." Vergil clapped his hands. The other people surrounding us dispersed and the woman holding the Doctor dragged him away with three others as escorts. I watched as the Doctor struggled to stay with me in his sight. But he had no luck. Vergil started to walk away and I was alone with the giant snake. "Are you coming?" Vergil called to me as he walked back through the wall of plants. I looked once more in the direction of the Doctor before following after the man.
I tore through the plant life after Vergil, ready to give him a piece of my mind. But I stopped as I stumbled into his space ship. That was the only thing I could think to call it; a proper looking spaceship. Vergil walked down a gangplank type walkway and motioned for me to join him. I tentatively thought about what he wanted and shuddered before walking after him.
"Welcome to heaven," Vergil chuckled to himself. I rolled my eyes and looked at every button and every compartment in the ship.
"What do you get from it? Being a god and all?" I let my fingers linger on a big red button. I turned away as he laughed.
"I get power and glory and I feed my ego. What's better than that?"
"Didn't you think of going to convince other people about your godliness in a less rural place?" I turned back to him and leaned on his dash.
"I did, but then I crashed here and I haven't left." He smiled at me the smile of a television phony that is pretending to perform miracles so he can take your money. "Before you ask why I didn't leave, I can give you that answer. The food is brilliant; comes from the richest soil in all the galaxies." Vergil walked over to me and grabbed my arm placing his other around my waist. "Here, let's get you something to eat." He led me over to a long table and forcefully sat me down.
"Sorry, but I'm not hungry. I think I want to see my friend now." I stood up and tried to walk out of the ship and back through the wall of the plants. However, Vergil made a point of blocking my path. I noticed the look in his eyes. It was as if he were a wolf, and I a helpless lamb.
He stalked towards me. I backed further away with each step he took towards me. I could see in his eyes where he wanted this to head. I almost stumbled into the table and my chair as I backed away from Vergil, but I felt the chair and pushed it before me to block his path. That didn't put him off, though, as he kept advancing on me. I turned my head only a slight to see anything lying on the ground. In that instant, I was thrust against the table. Vergil leered over me, arms on either side of my frame.
"I can just tell. We're going to get along swimmingly." He started to slowly lean down; most likely intent on kissing me. I, though, was going to have none of that. I took a deep breath and on the exhale, I thrust my knee up with all the force I could muster. I knew I hit the right spot when he let out a very loud moan of pain. Vergil reeled back, clutching his crotch. I didn't want to smile, because it looked painful, but I couldn't help myself.
I stood, brushing any food from my back and walked out the door and back to the village. As soon as I walked through, I saw the villagers all lined up. Like they were just waiting for me to emerge.
As soon as I started walking towards them, every person fell to the floor. Unmoving, I looked around and tried to figure out what happened. The snake was behind me. I heard the crunching of feet coming from the wall of plants.
"I am their god. They think we just consummated a bond, making you their goddess." I shuddered at the meaning of his words. "They're worshipping you." Vergil wobbled out, still uncertain on his feet. I guessed I gave him one hell of a kick. He stumbled up to me and placed his hand around my waist. Immediately I tried to step away. He wouldn't let me. I didn't like him touching me and I thanked River for the self defense lessons. I grabbed his hand, smiled, and flipped him on his back. He did not move from that position and I didn't even know if he was still conscious.
"Don't you dare touch me again." I looked down at him and walked down the steps and through the crowd. I stood before the woman who had taken the Doctor away and looked down. "Where is my friend?" The woman stood and quickly walked me to a cage behind one of the houses. The Doctor was crouched in one of the corners, trying to sonic the branches.
"Stupid branch. Stupid wood. Stupid sonic screwdriver." The Doctor kept hitting the bars, trying to break them. I cleared my throat and the Doctor whipped around, a huge smile on his face. "Rachel Foster, there you are." I smiled down at him and had the woman open the cage.
"Gosh, Doctor, where have you been?" I held out my hand for him to take. He grabbed it and stood, almost hitting his head on the top of the cage. "Let's get going."
We walked back to the village center. The snake was waiting for us. Vergil was out cold on the platform and the idol that sort of looked like him had fallen over to the ground.
"Rachel, what did you do?" The Doctor smiled over at me and I looked over at the snake. Its head bowed and I looked as some of the men tied Vergil up to a stick.
"I don't know." I separated myself from the Doctor and walked up to the men tying Vergil up. "What are you doing?" The men dropped what they were doing and fell to the floor. I sighed and massaged my temples.
"It is time to sacrifice god to the volcano. His purpose is over, mother." They stayed on the floor, even when I told them to stand up after they answered my question. I wasn't going to do anything about it. Vergil tried to sexually assault me, but then I looked to the Doctor.
"No, there will be no sacrifice. The bond was not-" I paused, hating the word at the tip of my tongue. "Consummated. Vergil hasn't achieved his purpose." The men looked at me and then at my stomach. I'm sure I looked disheveled enough, but they untied Vergil the same.
"Then you must go and complete the task." A woman warrior, the one who had taken me to the Doctor, approached. She held her spear, pointed directly at my chest. The Doctor strode up beside me. Clutching my hand, I knew what we were going to do.
"Oh," I smiled. "ok. I see what you want me to do here. I only have one word to respond." The Doctor and I started to back up. No one followed us. They just stood, as if they didn't think we would run. "No." And we started to run. The snake immediately started to come after us.
So we ran away as fast as possible. I told the Doctor to take the snake's trail back to the TARDIS. We found our way back to the big blue police telephone box and the snake hadn't caught up with us. We jumped inside and the Doctor ran up to the controls to start us flying away.
"Well," I walked up behind the Doctor and sat on my chair. "That certainly was interesting. But let's hope it never happens again." The Doctor smiled and turned towards me. "It was sort of weird to be a god, though. I didn't really like it. I don't understand how Vergil put up with it."
"Well, I guess you just don't have the ego to feed." The Doctor crossed his arms as I backed up and sat back down on my chair. "You're too good for it."
"No, I'm not. I'm not good enough." A small sad smile graced my lips as I looked down at my jeans and ripped off the goggles from my head. I felt the Doctor's eyes on me as I played with the goggle strap. Feeling the familiar wave of inadequacy wash over me.
"I don't believe that for a second, Rachel. Out of everyone in the universe, you've traveled through time and space with me." I could hear the pride in the Doctor's voice. "You were born with two hearts, you can say Irish wishwash-Irishwhishs-Irish wrist watch, you're a princess on an alien planet, you've battled a dragon, you've been a god. I think that counts as a reason you're better than good enough." The Doctor kept staring at me. I looked up at him and met his eyes. "Of every person in the TARDIS, there is something unique and wonderful about them; which means there's something unique and wonderful about you. You've just have to believe in yourself like I believe in you." He smiled at me and I knew that for a second, every person he had ever traveled with flashed through his memory.
"I'm sorry, about everything, and about everyone who has left you." I looked up at the Doctor. "I just want you to know that I'm never-" The Doctor put up his hand, motioning for me to stop talking.
"Don't finish that sentence." He put his hand down and I walked up to give the Doctor a hug. "Everyone who says that, they get taken from me." I felt the tear hit my shoulder.
"Don't worry about that then. We'll be great, just you and me." I pulled away and smiled. "Where to next?" The Doctor shrugged and we both turned to the console. There were so many options. So many places we hadn't been yet.
The Doctor glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I could tell he was trying to look when I wouldn't notice, but I caught his reflection in the glass of the console. And he looked worried for me. I smiled and turned towards him. He was working on flying us somewhere fantastic.
"Doctor, do you believe in a god? Like some great higher being that is omniscient and omnipotent, that controls the lives of everyone everywhere?" I looked away from the Doctor as I waited for his answer. It took minutes that I could hear ticking by for the Doctor to say anything.
"I don't know." The Doctor turned back to the controls and the TARDIS started jerking and flying. I looked down at my shoes and let my hair fall over my shoulders.
"I mean I don't know if I've ever really believed in a god. So, I guess I don't know either." I smiled at the Doctor and did something I never thought I would do; I silently prayed.