Sorry for the long wait! Had little inspiration the last two weeks...sorry! Hopefully I'll get enough inspiration to write the next chapter soon (don't worry, the story WILL NOT be discontinued...I don't to that. It just may take a bit longer in between updates).
This is an original chapter...I hope you guys like it!
Chapter 23: Forget Me Not
The Doctor woke up alone in his bed, a cold and desolate feeling in the pit of his stomach.
His room felt too…him.
Of course it felt like him. Who else would it feel like?
He shook the uneasy feeling that there was another answer to that question. An answer he couldn't remember.
His eyes drifted around the room, landing on areas that felt wrong. The dresser. The closet. A chair he sometimes threw his clothes in. They all felt wrong.
But they weren't. They clearly weren't. Everything was the same.
Just the same as it always had been, ever since the Time War.
He was just as alone as always.
He shook off the feelings and made his way to the console room, where Rose was waiting. Rose. She'd been with him for awhile. Quite a while. How long, he was unsure. Why was he unsure? He was a Time Lord. He knew everything about time.
Didn't he?
He shook that off as well.
Rose had an almost puzzled look on her face as well. As if she were trying hard to remember something she'd forgotten.
Just like he was.
"Right. Where are we going today?" Rose asked, shaking her head. The Doctor grabbed the console and was almost surprised to see no rings on his hands.
Why? Was there supposed to be a ring on his hand?
Where had that thought come from?
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something on the TARDIS screen, but by the time he'd turned to fully see it, whatever he thought he'd seen was gone.
His eyes narrowed. Something was going on. Someone was messing with them. And he didn't like it.
"1950s sound good?" he asked Rose as he threw a switch. The TARDIS landed rather abruptly, so abruptly that the Doctor glanced at the screen.
"That's not the 1950s," he said with a frown, glaring at the screen.
"I'll go get dressed," Rose said, leaving him to glare at the screen.
"Vigosolo? Why Vigosolo? You know I don't like this place," the Doctor complained, throwing another switch. The TARDIS refused to move. The Doctor's scowl intensified and he threw a few override levers.
And they were off, the TARDIS flying as roughly as she could to let him know she was unhappy.
Yeah. He got that.
He ignored the TARDIS's unease as he landed on Earth. 1950s. That's all that mattered. He didn't want to spoil where he was. That ruined the fun. As long as they were on Earth and not on Vigosolo. Vigosolo reminded him too much of the weeping angels. Even if they had nothing to do with Vigosolo, the Vigosolians were similar in how they fed. Vigosolians lived off of potential energy as well.
Only they did by erasing a person, pulling them to their planet instead of sending them to the past. At least weeping angels allowed the victims to live out their lives in peace.
The Doctor shook all thoughts from his head as Rose entered the room wearing a poodle skirt.
It was time for an adventure.
Jack was in the middle of a weevil hunt when he felt it.
Well…in the middle is a strong word. He had just finished.
But still.
He wasn't sure what it was. One moment, he was fine. The next, it was like a large portion of his memories had been lobotomized.
"Jack," a voice called, drawing his attention to the alleyway.
Standing there were his three best friends.
Two of which looked slightly translucent.
"That can't be good," Jack mused. The three of them were not amused.
"No. It's not," Bad Wolf said angrily.
"What's wrong? What's going on?" Jack asked moving his way towards the group. River and Bad Wolf were standing close and the third group member just watched him. He leaned over to give her a dutiful kiss, only to pass through her.
"That's a bit of a problem," Jack said. Both her and Bad Wolf nodded.
"You think?" Bad Wolf asked sarcastically.
"It just happened. We came to find you as soon as possible. River isn't translucent. Only the two of us. I don't like what that means," Bad Wolf said grimly.
"Yeah. I can't help but wonder. What could the connection be?" Jack mused, staring at them. Bad Wolf and the girl exchanged looks before staring at Jack.
"You know the connection," the girl said.
"I do? I mean, we're all friends. But River and I aren't fading," Jack said. River shook her head.
"I'm missing something huge," River said.
"Me too. It's like I just lost part of my memory," Jack said.
"Because you did. And it has to do with why we're fading," Bad Wolf finished.
"So what do we do?' Jack asked.
"Contact the Doctor. He's the only connection we have we can remember. We need to find out what happened," River said immediately.
"But you can't contact him yet. Nor can she. It has to be me or Jack, and I don't know how long I have before I completely fade," Bad Wolf said.
"Right. River, you two head out. Bad Wolf and I'll solve this," Jack promised. The four of them split immediately, Bad Wolf walking quickly alongside Jack.
"Do you have a plan to find him?" Bad Wolf asked. Jack shook his head.
"Nope. Not a clue. Unless you want to try calling him?" Jack asked hopefully. Bad Wolf shook his head.
"I can't anymore. I don't know why. Something big. It's gone. From my life. Let's get back to Torchwood. I'll search my memories there," Bad Wolf said. Jack nodded, leading the way.
It was going to be an interesting time, trying to sift through all of their memories and find out what was missing. But they would figure it out.
After all, Jack was not about to let his wife fade away to nothing.
They wouldn't be able to have sex if she remained translucent.
Freya was cold. Impossibly cold. Because she shouldn't have felt anything. She couldn't feel anything.
She didn't know where she was. She had no clue. But she knew she wasn't attached to her body. It was like she was floating around in space.
She saw the Doctor, tried getting his attention, but right before he turned to see her, she had faded. Something was horribly wrong.
She didn't know where she was.
That feeling kept flickering through her mind, unsettling her, terrifying her. She couldn't feel the baby. The baby wasn't connected to her mind. She was separate from her baby. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. Her mind was blurring.
She had to find the Doctor. He would save her. He had to save her.
"Are you done?" a voice called out to her. Freya tried focusing on the voice, but it was as disembodied as hers was.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Freya managed to ask, but her voice sounded almost foreign. As if her concept of what she sounded like was fading.
"We are many. We are all here. All one blur," the voice said, but Freya listened and could hear more than one voice.
Many voices there.
"What's going on? Where am I?" Freya whimpered.
"Lost. You're lost. We're lost. All lost. Lost from time, lost from memory," the voices told her.
"Where's my baby?" Freya asked, focusing on the sound of her voice. Trying to remember how her voice sounded. She had to remember how her voice sounded.
"You don't exist. Your baby isn't your baby," the voices told her.
"What do you mean, I don't exist?" Freya asked in alarm.
"You don't exist. We don't exist. We are one," the voices told her.
"No we aren't. We're people. I'm real," Freya promised, but the voices seemed to laugh at her.
"You don't exist. Your memories will fade as they've faded from everyone else's memories. You will forget who you are. We all forget who we are," the voices told her. Freya held tightly to the sound of her voice. The sound of the Doctor's voice. The feel of sunlight on her skin in early spring. Anything, everything, whatever could keep her remembering who she was.
Because she didn't know where she was. And that terrified her.
She was Freya O'Leary. Mrs. Doctor. Freya. She was Freya. She was alive. She existed. And she had a baby. And he existed too.
She was real.
And she had to remember that.
When the Doctor and Rose got back to the TARDIS, he was certain something was wrong. The entire adventure felt off, like he was missing a limb. Rose seemed to feel it too. They'd entered the TARDIS and the Doctor sent the TARDIS into the Time Vortex before turning to Rose.
"Something's wrong," the Doctor said. Rose blinked at him before slowly nodding.
"So I'm not crazy?" she asked for clarification. The Doctor shook his head.
"No. Something's missing. From our memories. I don't know what it is though," the Doctor said, frustrated. He glanced at the wall, noticing a frame on the wall. It should have held something about the size of a piece of paper.
When had that gotten there?
No. More importantly, what had been there?
The Doctor strode across the console room, ripping the thing from the wall. The frame had a copyright date on the back of it. 1994. What had happened in 1994? He racked his brain, trying to remember going to 1994.
That wasn't good.
"What happened in 1994?" the Doctor asked, glancing at Rose. She stared at him for a moment, faltering.
"I don't know. I was too young," Rose said. The Doctor shook his head.
"No. I visited 1994. But I don't remember it. Why don't I remember it?" he asked.
"What could erase something from our minds?" Rose asked, her voice small.
"Lots of things. If we can figure out what we're missing, we can narrow it down," the Doctor said. He started sifting through memories as he thought.
"How do we find out?" Rose asked him.
"Start going through your memories. Anything that seems hazy or foggy might be faked," the Doctor told her. Nothing.
No. Wait. His ninth regeneration. It was fuzzy. A lot of it.
"We've travelled together before this form, right?" the Doctor asked Rose. He turned to her, only to see her looking confused.
"Yeah. Nestene Consciousness," Rose said with a smile. The Doctor nodded. That memory was very clear. But before and after that, things were hazy.
"Something happened before that. And after that," the Doctor said. Rose shook her head.
"Where does your memory get hazy?" he asked. Rose thought for a moment.
"When I rushed for the TARDIS. When the mannequins had you. It was slightly blurry. I…I swung on a metal chain and saved you?" Rose asked, but she seemed unsure. The Doctor shook his head.
"You didn't. But you did. There. You were still by the TARDIS. But you were swinging. You couldn't have been both," the Doctor said.
"What else is blurry?" the Doctor demanded. Rose closed her eyes, thinking.
And her eyes flew open.
"Jack," she said simply.
"Jack?" the Doctor asked skeptically.
"Meeting Jack. It's all…doesn't make sense," Rose amended.
"How so?" the Doctor asked.
"I don't remember how I met him," Rose told him.
"In the London Blitz. In a Chula Warship," the Doctor prompted her. Rose's eyes got a hazy look in them and she slowly nodded.
"Right," she said, still sounding unsure. The Doctor shook his head.
"Unless that's a fake memory. Jack! Let's go find Jack. Maybe he can figure it out," the Doctor said, rushing around the console.
"You're taking us to Jack to solve something? What, you can't solve it on your own?" Rose teased him.
"I could. But something's missing. Something horribly important. The sooner I find out what it is, the sooner we can fix this. If that means Captain Jack Harkness, bring him on."
He wasn't sure where they landed, only that it was where Jack was. At least, that's where he hoped they'd landed. He was out the door in an instant, eyes scanning the area.
Standing in front of him was Jack and a translucent Bad Wolf.
"I told you I'd find him," Jack said triumphantly.
"No. The TARDIS found you and locked onto you. You got lucky," Bad Wolf muttered.
Rose made her way out of the TARDIS, staring at Bad Wolf.
"Who are you?" she asked curiously. The Doctor stared at her for a moment.
"We met him already. Bad Wolf," the Doctor told her. Rose shook her head.
"I've never met him. But he does look a bit familiar," Rose supplied.
"What happened when we met?" the Doctor asked, spinning to face Bad Wolf.
"Really? We're going there? Now? I'm a time traveler. I never meet you in the right order," Bad Wolf scoffed.
"But do you remember the first time I met you? Something's missing from our memories. We're trying to figure it out," the Doctor explained.
"1994," Bad Wolf said.
"Something big happened in 1994. The picture frame is from 1994. And I have no memories of 1994," the Doctor said.
"I was at 1994 also," Jack added, but he looked confused.
"I can't remember what exactly happened though. Something with a fire?" Jack asked. Bad Wolf nodded and then shook his head.
"You don't understand. I don't think something was removed from our memories," Bad Wolf explained.
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked him sharply. Bad Wolf held up his arm to the Doctor.
"I'm fading. From existence. If it was an event erased from your mind, or an object, how would that have affected me?" Bad Wolf asked critically.
"Was there anything specific about your birth? Something that could give us hints? Because it's erasing you from existence," the Doctor said. Bad Wolf thought for a moment and shook his head.
"A lot of things were working against my birth. But I don't think it's a thing. I think it's someone," Bad Wolf said.
The Doctor felt like someone poured a bucket of cold water over his head. He dashed back into the TARDIS, ripping the picture frame from the wall. He dug out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and adjusted the setting before pointing it at the glass.
The faintest outline of ink appeared on the glass.
And the Doctor could only stare.
"What's that?" Jack asked curiously.
"Picture frame hanging on the wall. From 1994. Empty," the Doctor said, staring at it.
"What did it hold?" Jack asked him.
"Apparently? A marriage certificate. I was married. I married someone. No. Bad Wolf married me to someone. That's who was erased. My wife. Who is my wife?" the Doctor asked, spinning around frantically.
And his eyes narrowed.
"And why is it making you fade?" the Doctor asked Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, closing it again.
"This is a spoiler. I shouldn't tell you anything. But you…and…saved my life. As a baby. I would have died as a baby had not you and…been there," he drifted off, his eyes widening.
"Oh my god," he whispered in horror.
"Do you remember something?" Jack asked anxiously. Bad Wolf shook his head but stared at the Doctor.
"We have to find her," Bad Wolf said.
"I thought you didn't know who it was," the Doctor asked suspiciously. Bad Wolf shook his head.
"I know who she is. And she's important. Too important. That's why I'm fading. Jack, you should be fading too. She saved your life," Bad Wolf said. Jack frowned and shook his head.
"I'm still solid," he said as Rose leaned over. She went to touch him and her fingers started to pass through him before he pulled back.
"I was solid earlier," Jack said, eyes wide.
"It's eating us slowly. Who did this?" Bad Wolf asked the Doctor. He turned to the console screen.
"They erased a human from our memories entirely," the Doctor said before his eyes widened.
"I'm so thick! You're brilliant, you are!" the Doctor said, placing his hand on the TARDIS console.
"Doctor, not that we don't enjoy watching you stroke the TARDIS, but shouldn't we be rescuing whoever it is that was erased?" Rose asked. The Doctor nodded, noticing something out of the corner of his eye on the TARDIS screen.
"Everyone. I don't mean to alarm you, but I want you to look at the TARDIS screen from the corner of your eyes," the Doctor said levelly, wishing he could see better from that angle. A gasp escaped Bad Wolf.
"That's her. She's trapped. Where is she?" Bad Wolf asked threateningly.
"The TARDIS tried taking me to Vigosolo earlier. Because she was trying to get the girl back. The Vigosolians live by erasing people from existence and feeding off of their potential energy," the Doctor explained.
"And where are the people that are erased?" Bad Wolf asked angrily. The Doctor shook his head.
"I would guess they would be on Vigosolo. Hold on," the Doctor ordered as he flipped a switch. The TARDIS jerked and landed rather quickly.
"Right. Let's go," Bad Wolf said, stalking towards the exit. The Doctor started to protest, but shook his head.
Even if he couldn't remember exactly who it was he was missing, he knew how important she was to him. And he knew he was dying to get her back.
Things were fading. Memories blurring. Sensations fading. She couldn't remember the feel of sunlight on her skin. The taste of strawberries on hot afternoons. But Freya fought it.
She sang to herself, focusing on the sound of her voice. The Doctor would come. He'd save her. She'd be fine. She could do it. She focused on memories. Memories. Found what was sharp in them and sharpened them, focusing on the tiny details. Anything to make her apart from the voices all around her, the voices urging her to just give in and give up.
But she still didn't know where she was.
And it still scared her.
There was no one there. The Doctor had expected to run into resistance, something. But there was no one on the surface. It was as if there weren't anyone on the planet at all.
But that was ridiculous. They'd stolen his wife. Even if he couldn't remember her, he was not happy.
Bad Wolf and Jack trailed behind him alongside Rose as he stalked through empty building after empty building.
"Are you sure we haven't overshot it?" Rose asked hesitantly from behind him.
"No. This is the time the TARDIS brought us to. This is where she is," the Doctor said, sure of his words. The TARDIS wouldn't take him to the wrong time.
"I hate to agree with her, but if that's the case, where is everyone? It looks like no one's lived her in years," Jack said gently.
"She's here," Bad Wolf supplied quietly.
"How you know?" Jack asked his friend. But the Doctor was certain of it too. He could practically feel it. The closer they got, the more he could remember. He could remember the faint outline of her face, the sound of her laughter.
"Because the closer we get, the more I remember her," Bad Wolf said what the Doctor was feeling.
"Then why don't you use this feeler to find her?" Jack asked.
"We're trying!" the Doctor shouted at him, then froze.
Because he heard something.
He spun quickly and took off running as fast as he could, figuring the others could catch up.
He made his way to the most dilapidated building in the village they'd landed in.
A dilapidated building with a lock on the door.
The Doctor immediately sonicked it open, hurrying inside.
And froze.
Freya.
Her name was Freya.
He'd forgotten Freya.
How had he forgotten Freya?
The horror washed over him as he stared at the room. The room was full of bodies. Bodies everywhere. Bad Wolf tried to feel for a pulse on one but his hand floated through the body. Rose moved forward instead. She touched the body and winced, jumping back.
"Dead," she said quietly. The Doctor glanced around the room, watching for a breath, an inhale.
Nothing.
"There must be another room. This is where the dead ones are thrown," the Doctor concluded. He moved to a door on the other wall, opening it.
He slammed it shut before Rose or the others could see.
They didn't need to see that room.
That was where they moved the corpses once they'd started fully decomposing.
"What about over there?" Bad Wolf said, pointing to the door on the wall across from them. There was a door on the wall next to them, but Bad Wolf was insisting on the other door. The Doctor stalked across the room, brandishing his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the door before he'd even reached it, all but slamming the door open.
This room was full as well, but he could instantly tell that these bodies were breathing. He moved inside quickly, Rose, Jack, and Bad Wolf following him quickly as well. The four of them spread out, looking for Freya. She was in there. He knew she was. He could see her face in his head now.
There were so many bodies in the room.
"I found her!" Bad Wolf called. The Doctor was over to his side immediately.
She was lying on the floor in a pile of other bodies. He shook her gently, but she didn't react.
Bad Wolf bent over her as well.
"Check her eyes," Bad Wolf directed him.
"I know what to do. I am a Doctor," the Doctor told him indignantly.
"Only in name," Bad Wolf told him. The Doctor checked her eyes for movement.
"She's in a coma," the Doctor sighed.
"Are you sure? What exactly do the Vigosolians do to steal the potential energy?" Bad Wolf asked.
A movement caught the Doctor's eye. He spun around to see a small creature scurrying out of the room.
A Vigosolian.
"After him!" the Doctor ordered, heaving Freya into his arms as he took off running. His memories of her were coming back, not a straight-up shot but gradually. The lot of them were running; at least, the Doctor assumed the others were following him. He could hear footsteps pounding behind him.
The creature got nervous and took a wrong turn. Into a dead end. It spun around, eyes wide.
"What's wrong with my wife?" the Doctor asked, keeping his voice as level as he could.
"She's energy," the creature said fretfully.
"Not anymore she's not! What's wrong with her?" Bad Wolf barked threateningly, glaring down the creature.
"Her soul's not in her body. It's in our energy reserves," the creature said.
"You sucked her soul from her body?" Rose asked, horrified.
"We need her back. Now. Tell me how to get her back and I might spare your planet," Bad Wolf threatened.
"Calm down," Jack tried, but the man wouldn't listen. And the Doctor wasn't in the state of mind to stop him.
"You can't get her back. Her soul's in the mass," the creature apologized.
"Where is this mass? How do we get her out?" the Doctor asked, his voice eerily calm.
"The other room. The middle room. It holds the vat with the energy in it. Please. We need her energy. Her energy could save us," the creature begged.
"I need my wife," the Doctor said simply.
"You didn't answer his other question. How do we get her out?" Rose asked.
"You can't. All of the souls are mixed there," the creature said.
Bad Wolf pulled a gun from his pocket, one that was less translucent than he was.
"Tell us how to get her out!" Bad Wolf roared at him.
"Put the gun down," Jack told his friend simply, but Bad Wolf didn't back down.
"I want her back too, but we can't go around shooting people," the Doctor told Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf's grip on the gun tightened, but his hand was shaking.
He fired off one shot, one that, from what the Doctor could see, only grazed the creature.
He ought to live.
"Why is the town so rundown?" the Doctor asked the now bleeding creature. Purple blood seemed to drip from the wound, but it wasn't much. Not enough to kill it.
"Ran out of energy. Very few of us left. Needed powerful source," the creature wheezed.
"Doctor, we need to get her out. If her soul's mixing with others, there's a good chance she could forget who she is. Then we wouldn't be able to get her out," Jack said. The Doctor nodded, turning around.
"Come on," he said.
They made their way to the room that there that they hadn't entered before. The Doctor sonicked it and allowed Rose to push the door open.
There was a large vat in the middle of the room with wires hooked up to it, pulsing energy from it.
"She's in there?" Rose asked, her voice small. The Doctor carefully laid Freya's body down on the floor and pulled out his glasses, examining the controls.
"It feeds off their originality as well as their potential energy. I should be able to reverse it if we can get her soul out and into her body," the Doctor said.
"What does a soul look like?" Rose asked, highly intrigued.
"I don't know. Never saw one. I'd guess tiny, wispy-ish looking," the Doctor said with a shrug. He flipped a switch, powering the device off.
"Now, we just have to get her out," the Doctor said. He moved to the vat and pushed the lid off, glancing down inside.
And his eyebrows furrowed together.
The entire content was wispy. Multiple colors. Multiple souls. All trapped.
"How do we know which one is Freya?" Rose asked quietly. And then her eyes widened.
"Is the baby in there too?" Rose asked in alarm. The Doctor didn't know how to answer.
"No. The baby's not in there. They wouldn't be able to take the baby out. He's not developed enough," Bad Wolf said automatically, leaning over the vat. He was becoming less translucent but was still rather see through.
"Freya! Can you hear us?" the Doctor called. The wisps stopped moving, hesitating, listening. A few even tried reaching out to his voice. More than one.
This wasn't going to be easy.
That voice. That voice was achingly familiar. Freya reached out for it, yearning. But she couldn't get through. Everything was black. She didn't know where she was.
"Freya! Direct something to us. A thought. Something. So we know you're here," the Doctor's voice called to her. Right. The Doctor. His face came to her memories.
I don't know where I am.
"Good! Good. We know where you are. You're here. Right here. We just have to find you. Can you come towards my voice?" the Doctor asked, his voice soothingly, lulling.
But how could she come near his voice when she didn't know how to move?
I don't know where I am.
"We know. It's okay. Just stay calm. Try to come towards our voice. Can you do that?" he urged.
I don't know where I am.
"What does that mean?" Rose asked anxiously. The Doctor had the sonic screwdriver pointed at the vat, channeling her voice.
"It means her mind's disintegrating. She's getting caught on a loop. That's not good," Bad Wolf said grimly, jaw set.
"But she can hear us. She's responding," Rose said stubbornly.
"She's sort of responding. Freya, I need more. Tell me. You need to remember. What happened when we first met?" the Doctor urged. If she could remember it, there was hope. Anything. He needed something, anything.
There was only silence.
"Should I try reaching in and pulling some of them out til we find out which one's her? There can't be too many," Jack offered, already rolling his sleeves up.
"It doesn't matter. If her souls already been faded too much, she won't wake up in her body," the Doctor said grimly.
"Bridge."
The voice was faint, fainter than before. But it was Freya's voice. The Doctor's lips shifted into a beaming smile.
"She's there! She's still there. Freya, Freya, I need you to hold onto that. Remember the bridge, the aliens. Remember almost falling. Focus on it," the Doctor breathed. He glanced over at Jack, who was slowly dipping his hands into the vat.
"It's got some sort of slimy liquid they're floating in," Jack said as he slowly moved his fingers around experimentally.
"That is probably decayed souls, ones that have been entirely broken down," the Doctor said grimly.
"Freya, we're here. We're right here. Jack's here too. Jack, Rose, and Bad Wolf. Remember them? Rose, your cousin. Jack, our friend. And Bad Wolf….I don't know who Bad Wolf is. Jack's going to move his hands around. If you feel something, tell us to stop," the Doctor said as Jack stared moving his hands around. He moved around the outside of the vat slowly, hands moving around as much as he could, albeit being slow.
"Stop," the voice commanded quietly. Jack froze as the Doctor leaned over the edge. Jack's hands were touching at least fifteen of the wisps.
"Tell us if it goes away," the Doctor told her.
"Take one hand out," the Doctor ordered. Jack lifted his right hand out and Freya said nothing.
"Right. We're down to about six," Bad Wolf murmured.
"Freya, can you move?" Rose asked.
"I don't…I don't know where…" Freya's voice faltered, almost blending away.
"No. No, no, no! Get back here! Don't even think about fading away!" the Doctor lectured her immediately.
"Don't take your eyes off of them," the Doctor ordered Jack. But Bad Wolf was already leaning over the edge of the vat.
"Freya. Freya. Freya. You can hear me. I know you can. Please. You're touching Jack's hand. We need you to move closer to his hand. Do it for us. Do it for your baby. Your baby needs you," Bad Wolf urged her, his voice more gentle than it had been the entire duration of their trip thus far.
Slowly, ever so slowly, one of the wisps seemed to move closer to Jack's hand. Jack wasted no time in putting his other hand in the vat and scooping the wisp out.
"Can you feel that?" Jack asked as he held the wisp close.
"Y-yes," Freya's voice sounded weaker. The Doctor held out his hands after tucking the sonic screwdriver in his pocket. Jack dutifully passed Freya's soul to the Doctor. He cradled her carefully, moving to her body.
As they moved closer to her body, the wisp grew. It grew so that the Doctor was cradling what looked like a wispy, glowing infant.
"There. Yes. You're safe now. You're right here. With us," the Doctor said. The shape grew even more, until it was about the size of Freya's body. The Doctor gently laid the wispy shape on top of Freya's body, watching as it slowly sunk into her skin.
Her eyes carefully opened, appearing hazing.
"Where am I?" she murmured.
"You're safe. We've got you," the Doctor reassured her before picking her up.
"We need to know why this happened and how so we can make sure it doesn't happen again," Bad Wolf said, his voice cold. The Doctor nodded and moved towards the computers. Bad Wolf beat him to it, immediately typing stuff on the screen at a speed almost faster than the Doctor himself could have done.
And then he just stopped.
Before spinning on the Doctor.
"They shouldn't have got her. It says they can only get someone if the person closest to them thinks about forgetting them. That's their opening," Bad Wolf accused, glaring at the Doctor. The Doctor's eyes widened.
"I'd never want to forget Freya!" he argued.
"Leave me behind," Freya murmured.
And the Doctor blanched.
"I wouldn't have forgotten you. I wanted you safe. So I could always see you," the Doctor told her.
"It can't have just been her thinking that. It had to be you. Did you think at any point that you wish you hadn't met her?" Jack asked critically. The Doctor shook his head before pausing.
"I did. Once. I thought her life would be better if I hadn't met her. And wondered what my life would have been without her," the Doctor said weakly.
"That was the opening. That's how this happened," Bad Wolf accused, his glare focused on the Doctor.
"Freya, I didn't mean it. I need you in my life," the Doctor told her.
"Not…forget me?" she asked quietly.
"No. I won't forget you. Never," the Doctor swore, gripping her tightly.
The group made their way back to the TARDIS, but not before the Doctor shut down the vat. They entered and Freya was immediately sat on the chair. She seemed to be gaining some alertness and consciousness.
"How are you feeling?" Rose asked her, giving the girl a light hug.
"Helpless," Freya admitted. Rose smiled at her.
"I'll go get you some tea. You look shaken," Rose said, making her way out of the console room.
"How did you know what to say? To get me to react?" Freya wondered, staring at Bad Wolf. He didn't even blink.
"Spoilers," he said. Freya's expression shifted at his word choice.
"Now, I won't have any of that. You know I deserve the explanations," Freya told him sternly.
And, like a child, he pouted.
"The one thing I know about you, in the future, is that no matter what, you'll do anything for your child. So I knew if the Doctor couldn't talk you into finding us, the thought of your baby needing you would," Bad Wolf explained. Freya nodded and smiled.
"Thanks," she said. Bad Wolf didn't even blink.
"Can you drop me and Jack back off at Cardiff? My ride'll be waiting for me," Bad Wolf explained.
"Who are you? Who are you really?" the Doctor asked, staring at him. Bad Wolf shook his head.
"I can't tell you. But you'll find out, one day. Now you ought to get me back soon. The Wife won't be happy about me being late to dinner. Again," Bad Wolf said with a chuckle.
"You can't call your wife that!" the Doctor protested immediately.
"Why not?" Bad Wolf asked him.
"That's what I call my wife!" the Doctor protested, pouting as he did.
"Other people can call their wives wife," Jack said, amused.
"Husband, let it go," Freya said. Bad Wolf gave her a smile of thanks and made his way to the console.
Without waiting for a reaction, he flicked a few switches.
And she took off.
"What – how? How do you know how to fly the TARDIS?' the Doctor asked, eyes wide. Bad Wolf shrugged.
"I learned from the best," he said. He then glanced at the Doctor.
"You were busy that day," he added. The Doctor didn't look amused at that, but before he could ask another question, the TARDIS had landed and Bad Wolf was out the door. Jack waited a minute, giving them an apologetic look.
"Sorry about him. He's worse than a moody teenager most days," Jack apologized before chasing him out of the TARDIS.
Well, what do you think? It took a lot to get this chapter wrote. I hope it gave more hints as to who Bad Wolf and the fourth member of the Harkness crew is (I might start calling them that haha). Please review!
Andi