Hello everyone, I'm back! Again exams are coming around and I finally finished my short story that I have to hand back on December 7th. To have a feedback before handing it back I've decided to publish it on fictionpress (original work branch of this website) so I would really really really appreciate if you go have a look, I have the same account name there and the story title is "Hide and Seek" so I can edit it according to the feedback before the date it's due. Bear in mind it is an exam and it will receive a grade, the only grade of the semester in this subject.
So here is chapter 48, a short Meanwhile in the Tardis prequel to the Name of the Doctor that will be the finale of Time and Space. It's based on "She, He said." of course, a prequel I love. I hope you will like it, I know some of you start to find it long but it's reaching its end, I hope you are still supporting me though.
Thank you a million times to my dear Turtle who is an incredible support and of course Freya Astrid Nova for the proofreading and support! (I have updated a chapter on her story and she uploaded chapters under her profile too if you are interested!)
I'll let you get on with the chapter :)
Enjoy!
Melody - x.
Chapter 48
She said:
Clara was walking down the corridors of the Tardis, led by a inner voice to a room. As she pushed the button, the door lifted and she entered the room, it looked empty and the walls were blank.
With a smile, she spinned around making her teal dress float around her hips, and suddenly the room darkened.
On the walls, the snowy streets of London could be seen and snow was falling from the ceiling.
The holographic room.
It seemed, as she walked, as though the ground was covered in snow. Pure, white, and creaking under her feet.
She waltzed for a moment under the snowflakes, a childish happiness painted on her delicate face.
"One day, you meet the Doctor." she started, looking up at the holographic starry sky. "And of course, it's the best day ever. It's just the best day of your life. Because…" she stopped. She frowned a little and then a soft smile stretched on her lips. "Because he's brilliant and funny and… mad. And most of all, he really needs you. But the trick is: you will fall in love. I do that trick quite a lot, sometimes twice a day… But once you start running, you start to forget… Slowly."
Her voice faded along with her smile as a much more serious expression took place on her face. She turned around and in the center of the room, under a beam of light that made the snow sparkle, the Doctor was standing, frozen. She walked up to his projection and looked up at his face with a soft look. "After a while, you just stop asking. Who are you? Where are you from? What's that is in your way and where're you going?"
She raised her hand toward his cheek, but on the point of touching it, she stopped. A hint of sadness had, somehow, made its way to her eyes. "Yeah I'm used to not knowing… I thought I never would… I was wrong…" she whispered, turning her gaze away from him as she started to walk away toward where the door - hidden by the holographic decor - was supposed to be.
One last time, she looked at the projection of the Doctor. "I know who the Doctor is, I know how he began and where he's going. I found out his biggest secret… The day we went to Trenzalore." she let out in a whisper.
The decor darkened slowly and she disappeared in the shadows.
The room became blank again.
Empty.
He said:
Looking up at the time rotor going round on the ceiling of the console room at the rhythm of the Tardis' soft humming, the Doctor sighed. He then looked at the screen in front of him where a picture of Melody was displayed.
He let his hearts bleed as his eyes met hers. No, he did not get over her, he never will. He will never forget her. It was hurting… hurting so much to look at her again, but he had to do it, he had to look at her… Because he had to remember what it felt like. So he would not forget it for the next one to walk through these doors, to not put them in danger, to protect them, because he could not take another loss. And most of all… Because he missed her. He missed Melody.
Swallowing with difficulty, he pushed the screen aside, making it turn until the second screen faced him, this time displaying a picture of Clara in Victorian London, side by side with a picture of her modern self.
"From the beginning she was impossible." he started. "The Impossible Girl. I met her in the Dalek Asylum and she died. I met her again in Victorian London, and she died." he said, incomprehension in his voice as well as pain at the flashback of her multiple deaths that was coming back to him. "Both times saving my life, by giving her own… But now she's back, and we're running together and she's perfect. Perfect in every way for me, except she can't remember that we already met."
At these words, a hologram of Clara appeared next to him and he walked up to her, a soft smile on his lips that soothened his gaze.
"Clara… My Clara. Always brave, always funny, always exactly what I need. Perfect… Too perfect." he said, doubt in his voice as he was not understanding what she was. "I'm used to not knowing. I thought I never would." he said as his voice became deeper.
He looked down at her delicate face, her gentle smile, and as he was about to lightly caress her cheek, he stopped and let his hand fall back, a deep sadness filling his green eyes, tears starting to find their way to them.
He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, his voice slightly trembled:
"I was wrong…"
He turned away from her, walking along the console unit before stopping and looking up at her again, this time, determination in his eyes and voice:
"I know who Clara Oswald is and how she came to be in my life. I found out… The day we went to Trenzalore." he let out, his voice deep.
He pulled a lever and her hologram glitched before disappearing.
The Tardis' soothing humming echoed again in the console room.
Empty.
They said:
She was there.
She had her back turned from him as she was looking through the bay window that was giving on the whole of Time and Space.
He had left the Tardis in a safe drifting mode.
The wooden bookshelves and the smell of old books were quite a comforting ambiance, a cup of tea still producing steam on the side table near a seat. That was a part of the library the Doctor surprisingly did not know: he had never seen a bay window in the library.
A soft smile stretched upon his lips as he looked at her from afar. She would always ask to see the stars. She loved just sitting there by the Tardis doors and look at the Universe before her marvelled eyes.
He calmly walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder after a small hesitation. Without a word, without looking up at him, she slipped between his arms, and wrapped her arms around him as her face against his chest was still turned toward the stars.
The beating of his hearts echoed in her head. He raised a hand and stroke her hair silently.
After a moment of both of them being silent, the Doctor spoke up, though his voice was low.
"I'll keep you safe. I promise."
"I can handle myself don't worry." she answered with a little smile.
"I'll keep you safe anyway. I promise Clara, always."
After a moment of silence, she looked up at him. She stroked his cheek with a soft look on her face.
"You never know… Time will tell, it always does."
She lifted herself on the tip of her toes and kissed his cheek before going back to her seat, she grabbed the cup of tea and dived herself back into the book of Jane Austen she was reading, leaving the shadow of a smile wander on the Doctor's lips.
"Clara? Which date is it? You wanted to be back already."
She entered the console room, smiling at his distracted self.
The screen on the console unit suddenly displayed a time and date, making her smile widen.
"Nevermind, ah." he said, quite sheepishly, to have forgotten again what she had said to him to a point that even the Tardis had to make reminders.
The Tardis shook a little before she landed on the pavement. They both ran to the door and checked that he aimed right.
"Right, good one Doctor." she chuckled. "I'll see you soon then."
She kissed his cheek and gave a soft look at the time rotor above before leaving the Tardis to go back to the Maitlands'.
"Hello! I'm back!"
As usual, she helped Angie and Artie do their homework before starting to cook for dinner.
"Oh no, you're not trying to make a soufflé again, are you?" said Angie, already feeling the fail coming.
"It's my mum's soufflé! Except this time I will get it right, this time I'll be Soufflé Girl! Like my mum said: the soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe."
"Was your mum deep in puddings?"
"She was a great woman" Clara said as she was whipping the mixture in a bowl. Her eyes laid on the kitchen counter and she noticed the mail. One of the envelopes caught her eye as it was looking old-fashioned. Ancient even. The address was written in cursive style and sealed by a wax stamp. She read what was written on the flap:
'Open when alone.'
"What's this?" she asked as she picked it up.
"Oh it arrived today, it's for you." Angie answered casually.
She left the soufflé she had started to make and as she headed toward her room, she said to Angie:
"I'll be in my room, I need to err… do something. If I'm not available for some reason and you or your dad need something important, just call the Doctor." and she quickly headed to her room upstairs to open the mysterious envelope.
Let me know what you think :)